Sputnik V as a tool in a hybrid war with the West - Politics Forum.org | PoFo

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It is no longer a secret that Russia's aggressive foreign policy is conditioned by its excessive geopolitical ambitions which, however, are not backed by economic, political, ideological or military potential equated to the world leading actors. Instead, the Kremlin clearly perceives the vulnerability of the West with its political and value modus vivendi to unconventional challenges. The insolence and the ability to play in the conditions of sowed chaos combined with the hybridization of methods to spread influence make the Kremlin a threat to the Western world. The instrumentalization of the Sputnik V vaccine has become one of the latest manifestations of Putin's geopolitical opportunism.

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By weaponization of Sputnik V, Moscow is trying to solve a wide range of problems. Firstly, a facade “helping hand” to Western countries is a way to give an appearance of a strong and coveted Russia to divert its population`s attention from the COVID-19 aftermaths in Russia. By definition, this should reinforce the Kremlin's impression of control over the situation that Kremlin conveys through underestimating fatalities which appear to be almost eight times lower than the world average. In foreign policy direction, the Russian government seeks to promote Russia's image as a pandemic peacekeeper, paving the way for breaking down international isolation and possible preconditions for sanctions relief.

Another political utilization of Sputnik V is the traditional sowing of political discord in the EU. In this case, Slovakia became Putin`s aide inasmuch as Matovic had secretly approved the purchase of 2 million Russian vaccine doses without any consent of coalition partners. At the moment, the Ministry of Health Krajčí resigned to contribute to the political crisis settlement. If Matovic refuses to go the same way without any conditions, the coalition parties SaS and Za Narod will withdraw their appointees to the government that will result in pre-term elections. Matovic's unfortunate joke that Slovakia, as a token of gratitude for aid, would give Russia the Zakarpatska oblast of Ukraine that has been suffering from Russian hybrid aggression for seven years already has only turned up the heat. This diplomatic scandal, despite the apologies, still left a bitter aftertaste in Slovak-Ukrainian relations. In addition to Slovakia, political disputes have escalated in the Czech Republic where pro-Russian President Zeman pushes the government to purchase Satellite V without the prior approval of the European regulator, as Slovakia and Hungary have already done.

The integration of the vaccine issue into the Kremlin soft power spectrum is evident due to the widespread disinformation campaign against leading vaccine manufacturers such as Pfizer/BioNTech, Moderna and Johnson and Johnson. The Center for Global Interaction report, firstly published by The Wall Street Journal, disclosed Russian intelligence services engagement into disinformation campaign against vaccine manufacturers via Russian resources such as New Eastern Outlook and Oriental Review controlled by SVR, News Front attributed to FSB, and Rebel Inside run by GRU. Exploiting these disinformation channels, Kremlin is trying to discredit Western-made vaccines by spreading fakes and manipulating information not only in the US and Europe, but also in Latin America, Africa, Asia, and the Middle East. Through its disinformation infrastructure, the Kremlin is spreading fakes about allegedly threatening side effects and low efficacy of Western-made vaccines, thus trying to undermine public confidence in both producers and the authorities. A striking example is how the Kremlin is leading the discrediting campaign against the Oxford vaccine AstraZeneca which uses the chimpanzee virus. This fact was immediately channeled into the media and network environments in the form of memes about turning humans into monkeys. Despite the absurdity of this statement, such a connotation was replicated even by the Russian media affiliated with the government and oligarchies, for example, in the program "Vesti". Now, all Russian and pro-Russian media are unanimously dispelling the panic over AstraZeneca vaccination and the alleged thrombosis cases, announcing that EU countries are gradually abandoning it. In fact, the use of this vaccine is temporarily suspended until all possible side effects have been identified. With less than 40 cases of thrombosis for 17 million people vaccinated, there is a good reason to believe that there is no direct link as it has already been confirmed by EMA, MHRA and even WHO. What comes to Pfizer vaccine, the Russian and pro-Russian media stigmatize it as a ‘death shot’, and try to sow panic concerning the company's would-be inability to meet demand.

The information destabilization carried out by the Kremlin is also aimed at promoting its homegrown vaccine. It is fundamentally important for Russia to win the vaccine race in order to use its own geopolitical positioning through the maximum coverage of the vaccine market. However, despite the unfair game, Russia cannot serve its geopolitical ambitions with its pure potential. If Pfizer, which is the target of the Kremlin's information attacks, is capable of producing 2 billion doses a year, the capacity for the production of Sputnik V is designed for only 25-30 million doses. This amount is not even enough to vaccinate the Russian population. Although, in the Russian history there are many cases in which its own people became a bargaining chip, should it be the arms or the vaccine race. The Kremlin doesn`t succeed in vaccine export as well. For instance, Argentina had expected 5 million Sputnik V doses by the end of January and another supply of 14 million in February, but received only 2.5 million in March. The Mexico government had signed a contract for the purchase of 24 million doses with the delivery of the first 400 thousand in February, but accepted only 200 thousand. A similar situation occurred with Hungary that had signed a contract on January 22th for 600 thousand Sputnik V doses supply in the first 30 days, but received only 325 thousand in March.

Noteworthily, the Russian homegrown vaccine is not popular among its own population and political establishment. The Russian domestic opinion polls show that as many as 64% of people, especially youth, don`t want to be vaccinated with the Sputnik V. It is not actually surprising given that the registration of the vaccine in Russia was performed after testing only 76 people. The same situation is true for Russian officials. Only 22% of Russian Duma members vaccinated by Sputnik V. Such vaccine nihilism can only be explained by the fact that 90% of Satellite V efficacy is outright lies and profanation of other vaccines. This is further confirmed by the fact that Russian intelligence services through diplomatic channels are working on the possibility of purchasing the Pfizer vaccine they have been attacking to provide the political elite, their families and Putin personally, while the vaccine is not registered by the Russian regulator for the wide application.

To conclude, Russia weaponizes Sputnik V as a tool in a hybrid war with the West. It seeks to create its positive image by homegrown vaccine export but current production capacity doesn`t allow it to take a dominant position in the market which could have been a springboard for the Kremlin to spread further influence. In addition to active vaccine propaganda, the Kremlin has resorted to the usual information manipulation and the fakes dissemination trying to defame its American and European rivals. At the same time, the instrumentalization of the ‘vaccine issue’ implies political destabilization in other countries that confirms the cases of Slovakia and the Czech Republic. Thus, the COVID-19 pandemic has created favorable conditions for Kremlin opportunism which requires close attention and prudent policy from the Western powers` side.

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