Today's arrest of a senior Russian aerospace executive in Italy at US request on corporate espionage charges escalated to the Putin level really fast. Clear echoes of Huawei case in Canada. 1/4 tass.com/society/1076736 
Putin connects arrest to unfair competition: "This is a very bad practice, it strains our state relations. I say this without a hint of a joke or irony. We often see no grounds for such hostile actions. I have every reason to believe that it often is connected to competition" 2/4
Putin: "They're accusing him of stealing some secrets. Yes we had a contract w an Italian consulting firm. That's international practice, open commercial work. Now our American friends are saying he stole something" fontanka.ru/2019/09/05/059/ 3/4
The Russian aerospace firm is under US sanctions. It's part of the sprawling Rostec conglomerate, which is controlled by one of Putin's closest associates from Dresden days, Sergei Chemezov 4/4 treasury.gov/resource-cente…
PS Hard not to imagine that some Russian officials will portray this move as retaliation for the Michael Calvey arrest in Moscow.
ADDENDUM: DOJ press release on indictment of Kornushov and Italian fmr executive at GE Aviation for stealing US trade secrets notes that Kornushov "had previously been a Russian public official whose service included the Ministry of Foreign Affairs" 🤔 justice.gov/opa/pr/russian…
