A Russian aid shipment sent to Italy in late March as Rome struggled to contain the coronavirus outbreak has raised questions about the Kremlin’s motives, amid cracks in EU solidarity.

Russia, which has cultivated good relations with Italy in recent years, was one of the first countries to come to the rescue during the early stages of Italy’s outbreak. It dispatched 122 military doctors, personal protective equipment (PPE), ventilators and mobile disinfection machines on cargo planes from Moscow.

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The Nato general Tod Wolters said this month that he was chiefly concerned about the presence of Russian military staff in Italy. “It is of concern. I pay very close attention to Russian malign influence,” he said.

The aid gesture, accompanied by the message “From Russia with love”, has been branded by observers as propaganda.

Lorries emblazoned with both countries’ flags and the aid slogan were broadcast on Russian state TV as they made the long journey from a military base near Rome to Bergamo, the province most severely affected by the coronavirus outbreak.

But Italy’s political leadership was dealt a series of blows over the aid. On 25 March a high-level political source told Jacopo Iacoboni, a journalist from La Stampa newspaper, that 80% of the Russian PPE was “useless”. A Russian defence spokesman attacked the story on social media, ending his message with the veiled warning to Iacoboni that “[he] who digs the grave crashes into it”. La Stampa’s story was not denied by the Italian government.

In a further embarrassment, Russia’s foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, said at a press conference that the request had come from the Italian prime minister, Giuseppe Conte, whose requests for essential aid from other EU member states had been rebuffed. Conte’s office did not respond to questions from the Guardian about the aid.

Andrea Armaro, a former spokesperson at Italy’s defence ministry, said Russia was “playing to weaken Europe and Italy”. He questioned the need for Russian military medics to disinfect areas when there were already nuclear, biological and chemical military teams in Italy capable of doing the job.

“And why did they land at Pratica di Mare, a very important military airport near Rome, instead of Bergamo airport or even Milan?” he said. “If these were sincere operations with nothing to hide, you would land at the closest airport. [Russia was] taking advantage of a ‘friendly’ government, as well as a sloppy and inattentive one .

“It was the largest and most successful propaganda operation carried out in a Nato territory at practically zero cost. I hope someone in Washington and Brussels wakes up before it’s too late.”

As Russia’s own outbreak has intensified, so too have domestic questions about aid shipments. During a conference call on Monday last week, Putin defended deliveries to Italy and the US, calling them “not just a one-way street”.

Russia analysts said there were some straightforward motivations for the foreign aid campaign, including diplomatic interests and the possibility of garnering return aid at a later date.

“No country does humanitarian assistance purely because of the kindness of its heart,” said Mark Galeotti, an expert on Russian politics and security, adding that Russia was interested in currying favour with the Italians and framing a new narrative about its partnership with Europe. “We’re all in this together, which obviously can be used to chip away at sanctions.”

A Kremlin spokesman denied that the aid was aimed at getting EU sanctions on Russia lifted, saying there was no discussion of “conditions or hopes or expectations”.

Galeotti said it was possible that military intelligence operatives would have joined the mission in Italy “out of the habitual security mindset inside of Russia”. But he said their presence would be “frankly irrelevant, because there’s nothing really secret about this effort”.

An analyst with ties to the defence ministry also said it was possible that members of Russian military intelligence would have joined the trip. But the mission’s main goal, he believed, would have been gathering as much information as possible about the virus and what methods were effective in fighting it to be prepared for the coming wave of infections at home.

“This was the time to gather information,” said the analyst, who asked not to be named. “Because the military knows that when the situation gets bad in Russia, Putin is going to send them to fight it here too.”

The fact that Conte requested “complete aid”, which he knew would include military medics, might not bode well for Italy, particularly as it battles for financial aid from the EU.

“Italy is reaching out to authoritarian powers and, ultimately, the company you keep is going to be an issue,” said Francesco Galietti, the founder of Policy Sonar, a Rome-based political consultancy.

“The question has to be raised as to whether you can flirt with everyone as you please, or if there is an etiquette, because if there is an etiquette then Italy is bluntly violating it.”