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Two Russia-linked accusations surface in 48 hours
Summary
A French espionage case and an Azerbaijani charge over arms to Armenia put Moscow's relations with two countries under strain in late August 2020.
What did the final days of August 2020 reveal about Russia's relations abroad? On 31 August 2020, two accusations from the preceding days stood out, one from Paris and one from Baku.
On 30 August 2020, French Minister of the Armed Forces Florence Parly disclosed that an army lieutenant-colonel stationed at a NATO base in Italy had been arrested and indicted on espionage charges. He was reported to have passed "sensitive" documents to an officer of the GRU, Russian military intelligence. The charge was that he spied on behalf of another government.
On 29 August 2020, a senior adviser to Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev accused Russia of arming Armenia since the start of the recent border clashes.
Two separate cases
The two episodes involved different countries and different allegations: alleged intelligence-gathering in one, alleged arms supplies in the other. Both, however, named Russia, and both were made publicly within a day of each other. Beyond the allegations themselves, neither case had produced further public developments by 31 August 2020.
