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What did Russia's neighbours accuse it of?
Summary
Two reports from late August 2020 pointed to espionage and arms-supply allegations involving Russia, in France and the South Caucasus.
What was being said about Russia's conduct abroad as of 4 September 2020? Two reports from the preceding days offer a partial picture, one from western Europe and one from the South Caucasus.
On 30 August 2020, French Minister of the Armed Forces Florence Parly revealed that an army lieutenant-colonel stationed at a NATO base in Italy had been arrested and indicted on charges of espionage on behalf of another government. He was reported to have supplied "sensitive" documents to an officer of the GRU, the Russian military intelligence agency.
A day earlier, on 29 August 2020, a senior advisor to Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev accused Russia of arming Armenia since the start of the recent border clashes.
Two separate disputes
The reports concern different countries and different alleged conduct: intelligence gathering in one case, arms supplies in the other. Neither report links the two, and both involve accusations rather than established findings. The French case had reached the stage of an arrest and indictment, while the Azerbaijani claim was an accusation made by an official's advisor.
Taken together, they show Russia's relations with France and with Azerbaijan both coming under strain in the final days of August 2020.
