Total twaddle being dressed up as something tantalising, picked apart by myself Pushing the boat out (a bit) on Russian "spy ships":  https://natsouth.livejournal.com/14175.html 
& others including highly reputable French media outlet.
Akademik Pashin as a spy ship?
https://www.meretmarine.com/fr/content/le-suffren-espionne-par-les-russes-de-la-realite-au-fantasme https://twitter.com/TheNatlInterest/status/1260234562799579136

Mind you, caveat, same National Interest as this thread explainer https://twitter.com/daxe/status/1258159838225465346