Putin lambasts nations for not approving Sputnik V, calls it 'politically motivated'

Russian President Vladimir Putin denounced the foreign nations for not approving its Sputnik V vaccine against COVID-19 and said that governments are avoiding the “reliable” jab for “political reasons.” In his address, he said that travellers arriving in Russia will be eligible to receive the Russia-made coronavirus vaccine’s dose for a fee in an effort to prove the jab’s efficacy. As per Express.co.uk report, Putin also labelled the nations that are yet to approve Sputnik V, as not having the “will” to protect their citizens. While speaking at the annual Russian economic conference in St Petersburg, the Russian President also acknowledged that its coronavirus vaccine has been approved in 66 nations with a combined population of more than 3.2 billion. 

Putin reportedly said, “Sometimes we see, and that is absolutely absurd, politically motivated restrictions on the acquisition of vaccines that have proven their reliability and efficiency amid current condition...It looks as if it was the unwillingness to protect one's own from this threat.”

"Russia as you know makes a big contribution to the fight against coronavirus...We've got four vaccines developed domestically and the accomplishments of our scientists have achieved wide recognition across the world,” he added.

Russia-linked Agency Asks Influencers To Criticise Pfizer's Vaccine

Putin’s remarks came after it was revealed that social media influencers, YouTubers and bloggers from France and Germany have been offered money supposedly by a British-based Public Relations company with apparent connections to Russia for denigrating Pfizer-BioNTech’s COVID-19 vaccine and falsely claiming that it caused hundreds of deaths. As per The Guardian report, ‘Fazze’ which is self-described as an “influencer marketing platform … connecting bloggers and advertisers” contacted several French health and science YouTubers last week asking them in broken English to “explain … the death rate among the vaccinated with Pfizer is almost 3x higher than the vaccinated by AstraZeneca.”

Even though the agency reportedly claimed to be based at 5 Percy Street in London but it is not yet registered there, Furthermore, it closed its website and shifted to a private Instagram account on May 25. Through Fazze, the French and German influencers were asked to publish links on YouTube, Instagram or TikTok to reports in Le Monde while on the Ethical Hacker website on Reddit about a leaked report containing data that supposedly substantiates the claim regarding the jabs.

IMAGE: AP