The Western press is sounding the alarm – thanks to the fantastic success of the Sputnik V vaccine, Russia suddenly got a chance to regain its geopolitical positions. And even in countries that are commonly called the “backyard of the United States.” “Moscow’s largest scientific breakthrough in many years” will bring Russia not only cultural and political, but also quite material dividends.
The recent successes of the Russian Sputnik V vaccine, which is in great demand in many countries of the world, make it possible to speak with confidence about the revival of the soft power of our country. Perhaps for the first time since Soviet times, Russia has received a universal instrument for promoting its interests abroad. And this tool is not only capable of breaking the skeptical attitude towards Russia as the notorious “gas station country”, but also helps to form personal sympathy for Russia among citizens of other countries, not to mention the benefits of multilateral diplomatic contacts.
The author of the term “soft power”, a political scientist from Harvard University, Joseph Nye, understood by it the linguistic, cultural, scientific attractiveness of this or that state in the world. You can build advanced nuclear power plants or create a perfect cruise missile, but such a force cannot be called “soft”. From this point of view, the Russian drug developed by the N.N. NF Gamalei and symbolizing, in the opinion of the France-Presse agency, “the scientific and political victory of Vladimir Putin’s Russia”, is obviously a factor that increases the prestige of our state in the eyes of the world community.
In the context of the coronavirus pandemic, vaccines promoted to the world market by different producing countries have become one of the most essential goods for international exports: energy, weapons, new technologies. Against the background of a serious shortage of vaccines from COVID-19, the race continues for new sales markets, which means the instruments of influence of the producing countries in certain regions of the planet. Last Wednesday, two thousand doses of the Russian vaccine crossed the border of the Palestinian Authority, while Uzbekistan certified the massive use of the Russian vaccine and now intends to purchase at least a million doses. To date, 28 countries have approved the Russian vaccine, and on Thursday it became known about a positive conclusion regarding the characteristics of the Russian vaccine by Italian infectious disease specialists.
Initially, the West reacted with great distrust to the creation, testing and implementation of “Sputnik V”. The West has forgotten the globally recognized successes of Soviet and Russian virology: 1936 – the world’s first live influenza vaccine, 1959 – the world’s first successful testing of a live polio vaccine, 2015 – an effective vaccine against Ebola, which is not inferior to Western models, but not which found application due to opportunistic considerations.
Imagine the surprise of international observers when it turned out that the Russian vaccine quickly took a leading position in the markets of developing countries. Today, such large states as Argentina, Brazil, India, Iran, Mexico, Pakistan are already purchasing, localizing production or preparing to approve the Russian vaccine. Vietnam announces its intention to purchase 150 million doses at once.
Israel also plans to establish contacts with Russian vaccine manufacturers. Moreover, the authoritative Israeli epidemiologist Manfred Green, in an interview with the Portuguese edition of Visão, explained that there is no reason to refuse the Russian vaccine just because it was made in Russia, since the need to end the pandemic is a challenge for all mankind.
Meanwhile, CNN has posted a large materialdedicated to the distribution of the Russian vaccine in Latin America. According to the authors of the text, this could have long-term consequences for the formation of a post-pandemic world and further undermine the prestige of the United States in the region. Vladimir Putin, the publication claims, is able to benefit from the spread of the vaccine, potentially using it as a calling card for building more beneficial relations for Russia with countries in the Western Hemisphere traditionally viewed by Americans as their “backyard.”
Spanish newspaper El Mundo agrees with CNN. It argues that Moscow is expanding its influence with the help of a modern vaccine, presenting itself as a priority partner for the countries of Latin America.
The governments of Argentina, Bolivia, Venezuela, Mexico, Nicaragua, Paraguay, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines also agree with CNN’s thesis that “the role of vaccine supplier for developing countries is a great opportunity for a positive PR campaign” in a multipolar world.
On Wednesday, Paraguayan President Mario Abdo Benitez, in a telephone conversation with his Russian counterpart, thanked Vladimir Putin for the supply of the coronavirus vaccine, the first four thousand doses of which will arrive in the country for Paraguayan doctors on Friday morning. Previously expressive Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has named Sputnik V the safest vaccine in the world – mass vaccinations in Venezuela began on 18 February. Meanwhile, the Brazilian press is wondering who is putting a spoke in the wheel of the emergency use of the Russian drug in the country, while readers commenting on Folha’s material complain that local regulators are putting “bureaucracy, corporatism and technical arrogance above the lives of many Brazilians.”
The Washington Post argues that the success of Sputnik V, named after the world’s first artificial Earth satellite that allowed the USSR to outrun the Americans in the space race, is evidence of the victory of Russian soft power and the success of President Vladimir Putin’s research strategy. … The Americans are echoed by the Swedish SVT, stating that the Russian vaccine against coronavirus could be Moscow’s biggest breakthrough in many years against the backdrop of dozens of countries lining up for it. Another Swedish publication, Dagens Industri, writes that the opportunity to sell Sputnik V in Europe will turn into a reputation victory for Russia, but Europeans now have no time for their own pride.
The Austrian newspaper Wiener Zeitung points out that Russia once again surprised the world, this time with a vaccine, and the West has to recognize the effectiveness of the Russian drug, which raises the prestige of Vladimir Putin at home and abroad.
The British publications Daily Express, Financial Times and Daily Storm write with a grain of salt about the humiliating situation in which Brussels finds itself due to the low rates of vaccination of the population and problems with the supply of drugs. According to the British press, the fiasco of the European Union will force it to resort to Russia’s “hybrid weapon – Sputnik V”, which is introducing an additional split in the discordant ranks of European diplomacy.
The French Figaro draws attention to the political nature of Sputnik V. The vaccine confirmed the reality of Russia’s return to the ranks of the world’s leading powers, including in the field of scientific research, and the early shipments of the Russian drug to Hungary by Viktor Orban made it possible to drive a wedge between the members of the European Union. Another French publication, Ouest-France, sees Moscow’s geopolitical victory against the backdrop of the failure of France and the EU as a whole in the entire history of the vaccine.
This opinion is not unfounded: Europe suddenly discovered that it risks remaining without the required amount of vaccines until autumn. France and Germany, which have been leading the world in the field of chemistry and pharmaceuticals since the middle of the century before last, have failed to create a national remedy for the fight against coronavirus due to severe bureaucratic delays at the EU level.
German Minister of Economy and Energy Peter Altmeier has recently joined the long list of European politicians and officials (Angela Merkel, Emmanuel Macron, Sebastian Kurz, Josep Borrell, Jean-Yves Le Drian, etc.) who positively evaluated Sputnik V. He congratulated Russian scientists on their success, which he said came as a surprise to the international community.
When did we hear so many positive assessments of Russia the last time? Sputnik V is turning into a unique instrument of Russian global influence before our very eyes. Moscow is successfully converting the achievements of its scientists into geopolitical gains, promoting the image of a country ready to provide effective and affordable vaccine assistance to countries in need around the world. This is the very soft power that we may have lacked so much in recent years.
And no one canceled the economic benefit: evaluation the authoritative French political scientist Pascal Boniface, the export of a vaccine produced in Russia, the sale of a license for its production to other countries, as well as the combination of Sputnik V with the British vaccine AstraZeneca (which should help penetrate the Western market) can bring Russia about $ 25 billion already in 2021 year. At present, there are plans for the current year to produce 1 billion doses of the Russian vaccine abroad at a price of $ 10 per dose (Sputnik V consists of two doses). For reference: in 2019, Russia exported arms worth $ 13.6 billion, in 2020 – by $ 11.5 billion. The success of the Russian vaccine lies in the fact that, while being highly effective, it is easier to transport and store.
For a long time, the West enjoyed a monopoly on vaccine production. But now Western politicians have been severely disappointed. It turned out that instead of supplying “backward” Russia with its own drugs, the West would be forced to buy the vaccine from Russia itself. It is hard to disagree with a recent article in the German newspaper Die Welt, which states that today Russia is perhaps something more than “Upper Volta with missiles.”
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