EU member state Czech Republic and Russia are at the heart of the latest intrigue. Prague on Saturday ordered 14 Russian diplomats to get out within 48 hours, saying Moscow was involved in a 2014 ammunition depot explosion in the country, which, if true, would be an extraordinary ante-up.

The arrests of two men in Georgia charged with attempting to peddle radioactive materials to would-be buyers is the latest in a string of such incidents spanning almost two decades.

Verbosity is one of the few tangible instruments the West has to try and influence Moscow. It has supplied some military support to Kyiv in the way of weapons sales. But it is in no position – be it NATO, Washington, Berlin, Paris, or the EU - to intervene militarily.  

Biden’s sanctions included the expulsion of 10 Russian diplomats alleged to be involved in spying and a bar on U.S. financial institutions buying rouble-denominated Russian sovereign bonds from June 14.

President Ilham Aliyev this week used only very thinly veiled language in saying “mediators” – which could only mean the OSCE – were not neutral but rather too often bureaucrats only interested in preserving the “status quo”.