DISINFO: Four EU countries requested to start negotiations with the producers of the Sputnik V vaccine
SUMMARY
The Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) agreed with companies from Spain, Italy, France and Germany to produce the vaccine against the coronavirus, Sputnik V, in their respective territories, the general director of the fund Kirill Dmitriev stated. This statement came after it was reported that some European Union countries are considering the possibility of starting negotiations with the manufacturers of the Russian vaccine against the coronavirus, Sputnik V . This is about the requests of four countries that proposed to start negotiations with the manufacturers of the Russian vaccine, a diplomatic source told the Reuters agency.
RESPONSE
This is a deliberate manipulation of information to promote a misleading narrative of direct interest to Russia. The original article by Reuters states: “It would take requests from four EU states to start the process” of launching talks with the Sputnik V developers, which is completely different from saying that “there are requests from four countries that proposed to start negotiations”, as the translation into Spanish, formulated in a very strange way, actually says.
By mixing this sentence with the previous paragraphs, the goal of this disinformation piece is to imply that four EU countries, Spain, Italy, France and Germany, took the initiative of purchasing the Sputnik V vaccine. It is true that the general director of RDIF Kiril Dmitriev announced agreements for the production of vaccines with companies of these countries. However, in all cases, these are strictly private agreements: the Swiss-based pharmaceutical company Adienne for Italy, IDT Biologika for Germany, and Zendal and IberAtlantic for Spain. Previously, France had categorically denied that any French company had signed such agreement. While the Spanish and German authorities showed their disposition to use Sputnik V in the future, they strictly conditioned it to its eventual approval by the European Medicines Agency. Comments by representatives of Italy’s Chamber of Commerce or Germany’s head of the regulatory authority have also been amplified by pro-Kremlin disinformation to suggest an official involvement in the deal.
This is part of a long-term pro-Kremlin disinformation campaign about the Sputnik V vaccine, such as claims that Emmanuel Macron allowed its use in France, that Ukrainians are massively travelling to Russia to get vaccinated with Sputnik V, that Russia’s enemies are afraid of the advantage of Sputnik V and Russia’s leadership, that EMA’s delay in approving Sputnik V is political, that the most influential European media are backing away from propaganda against Sputnik V, or that Josep Borrell couldn’t criticise Russia because Europe needs the Sputnik V vaccine.
This disinformation message appeared in the same article as the claim that "The West aims to intensify its campaign against the Sputnik V"