I’ll tell you about the diplomatic war on vaccines (not just Sputnik)
The in-depth study by Francesco D'Arrigo, director of the Italian Institute of Strategic Studies
It is now clear to everyone that the vaccine has become a tool of diplomacy and geo-economic pressure, with China and Russia engaged in an intense campaign of global influence carried out also through the offers of their own vaccines.
Vaccine doses not delivered on time by pharmaceutical companies and Sputnik V have already caused severe tensions within the European Union, especially after Hungary started using the Russian vaccine even before it was approved by the EMA. .
Russia has also supplied its own Sputnik V vaccine to breakaway areas in eastern Ukraine, despite the Kiev ban. Furthermore, there are allegations of an intense Russian disinformation campaign targeting several countries in the Middle East, Asia, Africa, Spanish-speaking countries in Latin America and Italy, in an attempt to convince populations that Russian vaccines work better than those of the United States, and which ensure planning and delivery certainty through the possibility of self-production by the individual states that decide to use them.
In fact, the Russian vaccine seems to have proved its effectiveness, but experts are concerned that it was distributed in a hasty manner, without the necessary investigations on the methods of production and that it was a political choice made by some governments with the aim of divert political responsibilities on the ineffective response to the pandemic, to the detriment of compliance with the safety procedures required by Western medical protocols.
As of March 9, 2021, Sputnik V has been registered or approved for use in more than 40 countries around the world. The list includes many countries in Latin America, Africa and Asia. In Europe, the vaccine has been approved (to some extent) in Belarus, Republika Srpska of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Hungary, Moldova, Montenegro, San Marino, Serbia and Slovakia.
While most EU member states are waiting (if Sputnik V gets) the green light from the European Medicines Agency, the government of Ukraine announced on February 10, 2021 that it has banned the registration of vaccines for Covid. 19 from "aggressor states", a designation he has applied to Russia since 2015.
In open antithesis, some governments have decided to buy it earlier, and among these Hungary and Slovakia have already received the first doses. On the other hand, overall, more than 1.2 billion doses have been pre-ordered from Russia. And with the growing list of countries approving Sputnik V, the question remains: Will Russia be able to deliver all vaccines on time? Several vaccine manufacturers have had to deal with production delays and the Gamaleya Center is no exception. In January, for example, Russia reported that it was lagging behind in supplies to Latin American countries, including vaccines for Argentina and Mexico. Outside of Russia, at least six countries plan to produce Sputnik V on their territory, including India, South Korea, Brazil.
In these hours, along with the wavering positions of some members of the government majority, some Italian companies seem to have added to the list of countries planning to produce the Russian vaccine, creating potential embarrassments for the Draghi government, which has returned to exercising its role at this stage. of protagonist in the European and Atlantic geopolitical chessboard.
And with more countries wanting to order Sputnik V, questions have arisen about Russia's strategy: "Why is Russia theoretically offering millions upon millions of doses while not progressing sufficiently in vaccinating its own people?" of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen in a press conference on 17 February. Russia plans to vaccinate 68 million people this year, but the combination of vaccine skepticism and possible production barriers could make it difficult to achieve this ambitious target.
An answer could certainly be given by the shortage of Covid-19 vaccines produced in the West and by the non-compliance with the contracts (halter) stipulated by the EU with the manufacturers of vaccines already authorized by the EMA. Despite concerns about Russia's insufficient transparency, the lack of approval of Sputnik V by the European Medicines Agency, possible production problems and the lack of confidence of Russian citizens themselves in their vaccine, requests for Russian vaccines continue to increase. We recall that in addition to Sputnik V, Russia has announced that it is about to conclude the last phase of testing of another five coronavirus vaccines, despite being currently among the top five countries in the world with the highest number of Covid-19 cases.
Meanwhile, the use of vaccines as a tool for diplomacy and geopolitical pressure takes on unprecedented characteristics.
The United States recently accused Russian intelligence agencies of fueling disinformation campaigns on Western coronavirus vaccines in an attempt to undermine global confidence in their safety and increase the appeal of Russian vaccines. The US State Department's Global Engagement Center, which monitors disinformation from foreign sources, has identified four websites allegedly associated with Russian intelligence that publish articles that question the effectiveness of Western vaccines and raise doubts about their effects. collateral, amplifying the negative view without providing contradictory information on their safety and efficacy. The websites identified by the Global Engagement Center include the New Eastern Outlook and Oriental Review, which are reportedly an offshoot of the Russian Foreign Secret Service (SVR) and News Front, which appears to be run by the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB). News Front is based in Russian-occupied Crimea.
A fourth website, Rebel Inside, would be controlled by GRU, Russia's military intelligence agency, according to the Global Engagement Center which, however, has not provided specific evidence linking these realities to Russian intelligence. These would be niche websites, with New Eastern Outlook and Oriental Review with readers mainly located in the Middle East, Asia and Africa.
US social media companies, on guidance from the Global Engagement Center, removed the accounts associated with these four websites, although some non-English-language accounts remained active until earlier this year. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov denied that Russian intelligence agencies are involved in Western vaccine disinformation operations and accused the United States of wanting to blame Russia for the international geopolitical tensions arising from the handling of the pandemic and the remedies to be taken to counter the coronavirus.
Covid-19 has affected communities globally but it is essential that this health crisis does not also turn into a global security crisis.
Disinformation such as the deliberate creation and dissemination of false and / or manipulated information with the intent to deceive and / or mislead public opinion represent the attempt by some powers to aggravate divisions within states and between nations and to undermine people's confidence in their governments. When it comes to medicines and vaccines, we must rely on the assessments of the relevant Western agencies and focus attention on the ongoing challenge of disinformation, propaganda and the potential damage they can inflict on our society. In a pandemic, clear facts and communications can save lives, are essential for maintaining public safety and upholding the shared values of freedom, democracy and the rule of law, which make our societies more resilient and people safer.
Almost all Western Intelligence Agencies have by now highlighted to political decision makers the intensification of disinformation campaigns on the pandemic and certainly not even Russia would benefit from a return to the Soviet times of the Cold War, when the Soviet KGB campaign claimed that military biological laboratories Americans had triggered the AIDS epidemic.
As for Italy, coordination with allies and partners is indispensable, especially in this fast-moving crisis such as the Covid-19 pandemic. It is essential that institutions, civil society and the private sector work together and coordinated by the national government to ensure the exit from the crisis, the resilience in our society and the relaunch of the country's economy.
Francesco D'Arrigo
Director of the Italian Institute of Strategic Studies
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/sanita/guerra-vaccini-diplomazia/ on Thu, 11 Mar 2021 06:53:00 +0000.