During the import process, there should be a warning if an existing object, selected to be replaced, is located in a different group.
If a release is created (in dev) with an object (object1) located in a certain group (group1) and this release is imported into another environment (test), a new object will appear (group1/object1).
Now create a new group (group2) in the dev environment and move the existing object (object1) there. (=group2/object1).
Create a new release with the existing object again and import it into test environment. The result is there are now two objects:
group1/object1
group2/object1
Now it is not possible say if those names are references to one object or if there are two independent objects. It would be nice to know at time of import a new reference is created.