What the Russia espionage and arms reports showed by 4 September 2020
A look back at two Russia-related reports from late August 2020, in France and Azerbaijan, as they stood on 4 September 2020.
What had been reported about Russia's relations with its neighbours and partners by 4 September 2020? Two items from the final days of August stood out.
On 30 August 2020, French Minister of the Armed Forces Florence Parly revealed that a lieutenant-colonel of the French army, stationed at a NATO base in Italy, had been arrested and indicted on espionage charges. He was reported to have supplied "sensitive" documents to an officer of the GRU, the Russian military intelligence agency. The charges concerned spying on behalf of another government.
A day earlier, 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.
Both reports concerned Russia's conduct towards other states, one in the field of military intelligence and the other in arms supplies. Both were in circulation as of 4 September 2020.
