{"id":2413,"date":"2021-05-02T20:23:24","date_gmt":"2021-05-02T20:23:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mediateka.online\/learnrussian\/is-russias-covid-vaccine-anything-more-than-a-political-weapon.html"},"modified":"2021-05-02T20:23:24","modified_gmt":"2021-05-02T20:23:24","slug":"is-russias-covid-vaccine-anything-more-than-a-political-weapon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mediateka.online\/learnrussian\/is-russias-covid-vaccine-anything-more-than-a-political-weapon.html","title":{"rendered":"Is Russia\u2019s Covid vaccine anything more than a political weapon?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Observers say the Sputnik V jab is aimed more at sowing political division than fighting coronavirus<\/p>\n<p>   Coronavirus \u2013 latest updates  See all our coronavirus coverage <\/p>\n<figure><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP\/\/\/yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7\" data-src=\"https:\/\/i.guim.co.uk\/img\/media\/8d05f8347403a25d6e93c4ceabd2f5ba34f75ec6\/272_117_3208_1925\/master\/3208.jpg?width=445&amp;quality=45&amp;auto=format&amp;fit=max&amp;dpr=2&amp;s=64ab7f460a2032594de2ed97db6b55a0\" alt=\"A package of Sputnik V vaccine\" height=\"1200\" width=\"2000\" class=\"css-uk6cul lazyload\"><noscript><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"A package of Sputnik V vaccine\" src=\"https:\/\/i.guim.co.uk\/img\/media\/8d05f8347403a25d6e93c4ceabd2f5ba34f75ec6\/272_117_3208_1925\/master\/3208.jpg?width=445&amp;quality=45&amp;auto=format&amp;fit=max&amp;dpr=2&amp;s=64ab7f460a2032594de2ed97db6b55a0\" height=\"1200\" width=\"2000\" class=\"css-uk6cul\"><\/noscript> Russia has administered fewer than 19m doses of Sputnik V to its 144 million people. Photograph: Agustin Marcarian\/ReutersRussia has administered fewer than 19m doses of Sputnik V to its 144 million people. Photograph: Agustin Marcarian\/Reuters<\/figure>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP\/\/\/yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7\" data-src=\"https:\/\/i.guim.co.uk\/img\/uploads\/2017\/10\/06\/Jon_Henley,_L.png?width=300&amp;quality=85&amp;auto=format&amp;fit=max&amp;s=cf23d4c141249ac9dd9f5c331c359f12\" alt=\"Jon Henley\" class=\"css-10bsb45 lazyload\"><noscript><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i.guim.co.uk\/img\/uploads\/2017\/10\/06\/Jon_Henley,_L.png?width=300&amp;quality=85&amp;auto=format&amp;fit=max&amp;s=cf23d4c141249ac9dd9f5c331c359f12\" alt=\"Jon Henley\" class=\"css-10bsb45\"><\/noscript> Europe correspondent@jonhenley<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-1yqigsj\">Russia\u2019s Sputnik V vaccine has yet to win EU regulatory approval and is likely to play little part in the bloc\u2019s rollout, but it has already achieved what some observers say is one of its objectives \u2013 sowing division among, and within, member states.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-1yqigsj\">\u201cSputnik V has become a tool of soft power for Russia,\u201d said Michal Baranowski, a fellow with a US thinktank, the German Marshall Fund of the United States. \u201cIt\u2019s planted its flag on the vaccine and the political goal of its strategy is to divide the west.\u201d<\/p>\n<p id=\"sign-in-gate\">\n<p class=\"css-1yqigsj\">Sputnik\u2019s makers say the shot has been approved in 61 countries and exported to 40. But safety concerns linger, and many EU leaders are sceptical of Russia\u2019s intentions when it has administered fewer than 19m doses to its population of 144 million.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-1yqigsj\">Amid growing European concern over repeated Russian cyber-attacks against the west, the Kremlin\u2019s treatment of the opposition leader Alexei Navalny and escalating tensions on the Ukraine border, EU observers say Moscow is deploying Sputnik as another weapon of geopolitical influence.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-1yqigsj\">\u201cRussia\u2019s low vaccination rate just doesn\u2019t tally with it having a supposedly cheap, easy-to-make and effective vaccine,\u201d one EU diplomat said. \u201cEither Moscow\u2019s being altruistic, which seems unlikely. Or it\u2019s prioritising geopolitics over Russians\u2019 needs.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-1yqigsj\">So far, only two EU member states, Hungary and Slovakia, have broken with the bloc\u2019s collective approach by ordering the shot, and only Hungary has used it \u2013 although Bulgaria is about to open talks, Austria has said it is ready to buy 1m doses and Germany is negotiating for 30m.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-1yqigsj\">Others are decidedly less enthusiastic, even frankly hostile. France\u2019s foreign minister, Jean-Yves Le Drian, has described the shot as \u201cmore a means of propaganda and aggressive diplomacy than of solidarity and assistance\u201d.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-1yqigsj\">The prime minister of Lithuania, Ingrida \u0160imonyt\u0117, tweeted in February that Russia\u2019s president, Vladimir Putin, saw the shot not so much as a \u201ccure for the Russian people\u201d as \u201canother hybrid weapon to divide and rule\u201d.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"css-10khgmf\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP\/\/\/yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7\" data-src=\"https:\/\/i.guim.co.uk\/img\/media\/5688d40f544ac8ed526171c33958cf2274abfcd9\/0_314_6053_3630\/master\/6053.jpg?width=445&amp;quality=45&amp;auto=format&amp;fit=max&amp;dpr=2&amp;s=92a89b28a239f82201f93ec6735d641e\" alt=\"Boxes of the Russian vaccine Sputnik V vaccine are prepared to be given to patients in Saint Margit Hospital in Budapest, Hungary.\" height=\"3630\" width=\"6053\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"css-uk6cul lazyload\"><noscript><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Boxes of the Russian vaccine Sputnik V vaccine are prepared to be given to patients in Saint Margit Hospital in Budapest, Hungary.\" src=\"https:\/\/i.guim.co.uk\/img\/media\/5688d40f544ac8ed526171c33958cf2274abfcd9\/0_314_6053_3630\/master\/6053.jpg?width=445&amp;quality=45&amp;auto=format&amp;fit=max&amp;dpr=2&amp;s=92a89b28a239f82201f93ec6735d641e\" height=\"3630\" width=\"6053\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"css-uk6cul\"><\/noscript>Boxes of the Russian vaccine Sputnik V are prepared to be given to patients in Saint Margit Hospital in Budapest, Hungary. Photograph: Zolt\u00e1n Balogh\/EPA<\/figure>\n<p class=\"css-1yqigsj\">After a lamentably slow early rollout that has only recently started to pick up speed, meanwhile, the European commission says Sputnik V is unlikely to play a part in the EU\u2019s rollout simply because it will not be available in sufficient quantities until the end of 2021, when most Europeans will already be vaccinated.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-1yqigsj\">Thierry Breton, the commissioner in charge of vaccine procurement, has said the European Medicines Agency (EMA) is evaluating Sputnik but \u201cstill lacks essential data\u201d, while factories in Italy, Spain and Germany that have been named as putative manufacturing sites would take months to come on stream.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-1yqigsj\">Hitting back via its official Sputnik V Twitter account, Russia has denied the vaccine is a political tool, or that safety or production capacity are potential issues. \u201cPoliticisation of vaccines is unethical and costing lives,\u201d read a typical recent tweet. \u201cSputnik is undoubtedly one of the best vaccines in the world,\u201d said another.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-1yqigsj\">The account has accused EU officials of \u201cbias\u201d and \u201cfake storytelling\u201d and sought to play down the safety concerns that have plagued other viral vector jabs such as AstraZeneca and Johnson &amp; Johnson.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-1yqigsj\">\u201cBiased western media cannot forever ignore real data from the real world that shows Sputnik V is safer and more efficient than mRNA vaccines,\u201d the account said, accusing Breton of continually \u201cmisleading the public\u201d over production capacity.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-1yqigsj\">An EU study released this week accused Russian and Chinese media of systematically seeking to sow mistrust in western vaccines by sensationalising safety concerns, making unfounded links between shots and deaths in Europe, and promoting Russian and Chinese vaccines as superior.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-1yqigsj\">But whether or not the EMA approves Sputnik V and whether or not it ever arrives in sufficient numbers, observers argue it has already done significant damage, with EU national and regional leaders leveraging it for their own political ends.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-1yqigsj\">In some countries, it has caused mayhem: the Slovakian prime minister, Igor Matovi\u010d, was forced to resign this month amid a bitter dispute over a secret deal to buy 2m doses despite the disagreement of many in his four-party coalition.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"css-10khgmf\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP\/\/\/yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7\" data-src=\"https:\/\/i.guim.co.uk\/img\/media\/7013aa76d26eb05c0cb910d811f57b80372b4640\/0_232_4859_2916\/master\/4859.jpg?width=445&amp;quality=45&amp;auto=format&amp;fit=max&amp;dpr=2&amp;s=810166c88703c764b73c73768baa7c0e\" alt=\"Former Slovak prime minister Igor Matovi\u010d, right, and health minister Marek Krajci at Kosice airportas Russia\u2019s Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine arrives.\" height=\"2916\" width=\"4859\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"css-uk6cul lazyload\"><noscript><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Former Slovak prime minister Igor Matovi\u010d, right, and health minister Marek Krajci at Kosice airportas Russia\u2019s Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine arrives.\" src=\"https:\/\/i.guim.co.uk\/img\/media\/7013aa76d26eb05c0cb910d811f57b80372b4640\/0_232_4859_2916\/master\/4859.jpg?width=445&amp;quality=45&amp;auto=format&amp;fit=max&amp;dpr=2&amp;s=810166c88703c764b73c73768baa7c0e\" height=\"2916\" width=\"4859\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"css-uk6cul\"><\/noscript>Former Slovak prime minister Igor Matovi\u010d, right, and health minister Marek Krajci at Kosice airport<br \/>as Russia\u2019s Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine arrives. Photograph: Frantisek Ivan\/AP<\/figure>\n<p class=\"css-1yqigsj\">Making matters worse, the Slovak medicines agency subsequently said the first 200,000 doses were different from the vaccine in the Lancet study and refused to approve them, prompting Matovi\u010d to say Slovakia would use a Hungarian lab instead.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-1yqigsj\">Sputnik has also cost the health and foreign ministers of the Czech Republic \u2013 both opposed to the shot\u2019s deployment without EMA approval \u2013 their jobs, fired by the prime minister, Andrej Babi\u0161, following remarks by the pro-Russian president, Milo\u0161 Zeman.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-1yqigsj\">Only in the wake of a furious diplomatic row last week over Czech allegations that Russia was behind a deadly 2014 blast at an ammunitions warehouse did Prague announce it would no longer be seeking to purchase any of the vaccine.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-1yqigsj\">Elsewhere in post-communist Europe, Hungary\u2019s Brussels-baiting leader, Viktor Orb\u00e1n, who has long fostered close relations with Russia, has gleefully bypassed both the bloc\u2019s joint procurement programme and EMA authorisation to buy 2m doses, while outside the EU, Serbia has become a champion vaccinator thanks to Sputnik.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-1yqigsj\">In western Europe, regional politicians have also sought to score points against national governments through Sputnik deals: the conservative leader of Madrid in Socialist-led Spain; the centre-right president of the Provence-Alpes-C\u00f4te d\u2019Azur region in France; the opposition Democratic party leader of Italy\u2019s Campania region.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-1yqigsj\">In Germany, where federal elections in September have turned the country\u2019s early shortage of vaccines into a particularly burning issue nationwide with politicians of all colours under heavy pressure to find solutions, three states including Bavaria have either struck or are negotiating Sputnik deals.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-1yqigsj\">The federal health minister, Jens Spahn, has said Berlin is in talks on a national deal but stressed any rollout will depend on EMA approval and Sputnik V supplies would have to arrive within the next couple of month or be too late.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-1yqigsj\">For Baranowski, Sputnik\u2019s rushed approval, online propaganda and carefully selected destinations add up to a Russian strategy that is \u201cneither innocent nor humanitarian. It is part of exactly the same game, of dividing the west, that we see in Moscow\u2019s use of military power, cybersecurity, energy security.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure class=\"css-10khgmf\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP\/\/\/yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7\" data-src=\"https:\/\/i.guim.co.uk\/img\/media\/0019a83638a37a667742fa8714030720155e38bb\/0_397_6000_3600\/master\/6000.jpg?width=445&amp;quality=45&amp;auto=format&amp;fit=max&amp;dpr=2&amp;s=5f4f7f36c0e83fe5ee4bbfac3640fba3\" alt=\"Viktor Koronelli, the Russian ambassador to Mexico marks the arrival in the country of the first batch of 200,000 doses of Sputnik V.\" height=\"3600\" width=\"6000\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"css-uk6cul lazyload\"><noscript><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Viktor Koronelli, the Russian ambassador to Mexico marks the arrival in the country of the first batch of 200,000 doses of Sputnik V.\" src=\"https:\/\/i.guim.co.uk\/img\/media\/0019a83638a37a667742fa8714030720155e38bb\/0_397_6000_3600\/master\/6000.jpg?width=445&amp;quality=45&amp;auto=format&amp;fit=max&amp;dpr=2&amp;s=5f4f7f36c0e83fe5ee4bbfac3640fba3\" height=\"3600\" width=\"6000\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"css-uk6cul\"><\/noscript>Viktor Koronelli, the Russian ambassador to Mexico, marks the arrival in the country of the first batch of 200,000 doses of Sputnik V. Photograph: Gerardo Vieyra\/NurPhoto\/REX\/Shutterstock<\/figure>\n<p class=\"css-1yqigsj\">And it\u2019s working, he said: \u201cIt\u2019s dividing various European actors pretty well. Until Sputnik V has EMA approval \u2013 at which stage, of course, there\u2019s no problem: the world needs vaccines \u2013 it\u2019s become a political litmus test for whether you are for or against the EU\u2019s programme. That\u2019s eroding confidence. And that\u2019s what Putin wants.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-1yqigsj\">Early western doubts about Sputnik V\u2019s efficacy after Russia approved it last August \u2013 without the results of full clinical trials \u2013 were partly dispelled by a peer-reviewed late-stage trial published in the Lancet in February which showed it was almost 92% effective.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-1yqigsj\">Moscow\u2019s Gamaleya Institute laboratory and the Russian Direct Investment Fund, the sovereign wealth fund backing the shot, have since said scientists had found Sputnik V 97.6% effective in \u201creal-world\u201d data from 3.8 million people.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-1yqigsj\">The EMA\u2019s director, Emer Cooke, however, confirmed last week the agency\u2019s approval process, which began late because of a lack of manufacturer data, was \u201creally at a very early stage\u201d, saying the agency had yet to start reviewing any \u201creal-world\u201d safety records, for example on potential side-effects of the vaccine.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-1yqigsj\">Among other things, the agency is looking into whether clinical trials met so-called \u201cgood clinical practice\u201d standards after some soldiers and state employees Russia said took part in them reportedly claimed they had been pressured into doing so.<\/p>\n<p> This article was amended on 2 May 2021 to correct an inaccurate description of the political leaning of the president of the Provence-Alpes-C\u00f4te d\u2019Azur region in France.<\/p>\n<p><!--noindex--><a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" href=\"http:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/society\/2021\/apr\/30\/is-russias-covid-vaccine-anything-more-than-a-political-weapon-sputnik-v\">Source<\/a><!--\/noindex--><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Observers say the Sputnik V jab is aimed more at sowing political division than fighting coronavirus Coronavirus \u2013 latest updates See all our coronavirus coverage Russia has administered fewer than 19m doses of Sputnik V to its 144 million people. Photograph: Agustin Marcarian\/ReutersRussia has administered fewer than 19m doses of Sputnik V to its 144 [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[87],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2413","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-latest-news-from-russia"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Is Russia\u2019s Covid vaccine anything more than a political weapon? - Learn Russian<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/mediateka.online\/learnrussian\/is-russias-covid-vaccine-anything-more-than-a-political-weapon.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Is Russia\u2019s Covid vaccine anything more than a political weapon? - Learn Russian\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Observers say the Sputnik V jab is aimed more at sowing political division than fighting coronavirus Coronavirus \u2013 latest updates See all our coronavirus coverage Russia has administered fewer than 19m doses of Sputnik V to its 144 million people. 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