as “unreasonable, excessive and extremely regrettable”, and that it couldn't "help but question whether japan has other motives than containing the outbreak". russia-saudi arabia relations in response to dramatic drop in oil consumption due to the covid-19 pandemic, saudi arabia attempted to orchestrate a worldwide decrease in oil production to keep prices at a moderate level. however, when russia refused to reduce oil production, saudi arabia triggered an oil price war in march 2020. this economic conflict resulted in a sheer drop of oil price over the spring of 2020, with the price becoming negative on april 20. since oil production is inelastic and cannot be stopped completely, but even the lowest possible production level generates much greater supply than demand, the oil industry has nowhere to store oil and is ready to pay for it being taken away. iran iran's regime spread a narrative that the coronavirus was a conspiracy orchestrated by the united states. hossein salami, commander-in-chief of the islamic revolutionary guard corps, suggested that the coronavirus may have been an american biological invasion. costa rica-nicaragua relations on 14 may 2020, fifty-two of the fifty-seven deputies of the legislative assembly of costa rica signed a letter addressed to the director of the pan american health organization (paho), carissa etienne, in which they expressed their "concern" for the situation of the pandemic by covid-19 in nicaragua, calling for "forceful and urgent measures to be taken in this regard" in the neighboring country, and, at the same time, warning that nicaragua's response could have negative effects on the rest of the central american countries. the deputies questioned the nicaraguan government's figures of 25 coronavirus infections with eight deaths, in contrast to data from the independent citizen observatory, which has calculated 1,033 cases and at least 188 deaths in nicaragua. as a result of this, the deputies of the nicaraguan government party, the sandinista national liberation front, issued a statement on 15 may rejecting the act of the costa rican deputies, calling it as "political demands that evidently reflect xenophobic and racist positions that is not the first time that they have demonstrated against nicaragua”. international aid and health diplomacy in the midst of the covid-19 pandemic, international actors provided several relief packages and support actions to help countries deal with the outbreak. in the early phases of the epidemic, several countries donated masks, medical equipment and money to china. once the crisis in china stabilised, the country began sending aid to other nations. in march, china, cuba and russia sent medical supplies and experts to help italy deal with its coronavirus outbreak. some commentators raised suspicions on these moves and dubbed them as a form of propaganda. to some, health diplomacy provided the opportunity to create narratives of friends and enemies in an attempt to win the hearts and minds of foreign audiences. allegations of russian espionage the uk's national cyber security centre, together with the canadian communications security establishment, the united states department for homeland security cybersecurity infrastructure security agency, and the us national security agency in mid-july, 2020, jointly alleged that russian state-backed hackers have been trying to steal covid-19 treatment and vaccine research from academic and pharmaceutical institutions in other countries; russia has denied these allegations. global ceasefire and armed conflict dynamics the covid-19 pandemic led to a united nations security council resolution demanding a global ceasefire. on march 23, 2020, united nations secretary-general antónio manuel de oliveira guterres issued an appeal for a global ceasefire as part of the united nations' response to the covid-19 pandemic. on 24 june 2020, 170 un member states and observers signed a non-binding statement in support of the appeal, rising to 172 on 25 june 2020. on 1 july 2020, the un security council passed resolution s/res/2532 (2020), demanding a "a general and immediate cessation of hostilities in all situations on its agenda," expressing support for "the efforts undertaken by the secretary-general and his special representatives and special envoys in that respect," calling for "all parties to armed conflicts to engage immediately in a durable humanitarian pause" of at least 90 consecutive days, and calling for greater international cooperation to address the pandemic. it is uncertain whether armed conflicts have escalated or de-escalated during the pandemic. rustad and colleagues argue that the success of covid-related ceasefires has been very limited so far. a study of nine selected countries finds that the pandemic increased conflict intensity in india, iraq, libya, pakistan and the philippines. this was the case as rebel groups tried to exploit weaknesses of the state apparatus during the pandemic while international attention shifted away from armed groups. even in countries where conflict intensity declined, such as afghanistan or colombia, rebels attempt to gain new followers by implementing their own pandemic response or by recruiting unemployed youth. however, just like governments, rebel groups also face enormous challenges due to border closures and economic recession. in line with this, the overall number of battles increased after the first wave of lockdowns in the middle east. however, there was a downwards trend in asia, most likely related to logistical challenges for armed groups. another study on global conflict trends detects a temporary decline in protest events after the first wave of lockdowns in march and april 2020 for around six months. battles events, by contrast, did not decline and even increased in some countries (such as libya) because armed groups aimed to exploit pandemic-related weaknesses of their opponents.