By Francesco Guarascio, John Chalmers and Emilio Parodi
BRUSSELS (Reuters) – The European Union has publicly rejected Russia’s global campaign to supply Russia’s coronavirus vaccine as a propaganda maneuver for an undesirable regime.
Behind the scenes, the bloc is turning to Moscow’s Sputnik V as it tries to put its faltering efforts back on track, EU diplomatic and official sources told Reuters.
An EU official negotiating with vaccine manufacturers on behalf of the bloc told Reuters that EU governments are considering starting talks with Sputnik V developers and that requests from four EU states will be needed to start the process.
Hungary and Slovakia have already purchased the Russian injection, the Czech Republic is interested and the EU official said Italy was considering using the country’s largest vaccine-producing bioreactor at a ReiThera plant near Rome to make Sputnik V.
Brussels was criticized for the slow implementation of the bloc’s vaccine at a time when the former member of Britain is easing restrictions as his vaccination program picks up pace. Italy is intensifying the blockages, hospitals in the Paris region are close to becoming overloaded and Germany has warned of a third wave.
The EU has signed agreements with six Western vaccine manufacturers and has started negotiations with two more. So far, it has approved four vaccines, but production problems have delayed its inoculation campaign and some member states are looking for their own solutions.
If Sputnik V joined the EU’s vaccine arsenal, it would be a diplomatic triumph for Russia, whose trade with the bloc has been hampered for years by sanctions against the annexation of Crimea and its intervention in eastern Ukraine.
There would also be a risk of dividing the bloc between the states decidedly against giving Moscow any kind of victory and those in favor of showing that Brussels can cooperate with the Kremlin.
‘LESS DESIRABLE’
A second EU official said the ReiThera plant was mentioned by Italian officials at a meeting as a possible location for the production of COVID-19 vaccines made by companies other than the Italian biotechnology company.
ReiThera, which is 30% owned by the state and is developing its own COVID-19 photo, declined to comment.
A spokeswoman for Italy’s industry ministry declined to comment on talks about the possible use of ReiThera’s plant to make Sputnik V. She said: “We will produce all authorized vaccines whenever possible.”
A spokesman for the European Commission, which coordinates negotiations with vaccine manufacturers, said the EU was not required to start negotiations with Sputnik V developers, even if the bloc’s drug regulator approves the vaccine.
It was not clear whether the states that ordered Sputnik V on bilateral deals would be interested in joint EU acquisitions. Spokesmen for the governments of the Czech Republic, Hungary and Slovakia did not respond to requests for comment.
Negotiations with vaccine manufacturers usually last months before supply agreements and the EU official said that no decision has yet been made on whether to approach the developers of Sputnik V after internal talks on the subject.
Still, discussions between EU governments show a notable change in tactics in relation to the Russian vaccine.
For months, the EU expressed doubts about Sputnik V, citing the lack of data and calling the vaccine a propaganda tool for the Kremlin’s foreign policy.
On February 17, the head of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, questioned Russia’s reasons for exporting millions of doses, despite a slow implementation at home, where fewer people were vaccinated proportionally than in the EU, based on data public.
Just last week, Charles Michel, who chairs EU leaders’ summits, again cast doubt on Russia’s motives for promoting Sputnik V.
“We must not be fooled by China and Russia, both regimes with less desirable values than ours, as they organize highly limited but widely publicized operations to provide vaccines to third parties,” he said. “Europe will not use vaccines for propaganda purposes.”
There were no official reactions from Moscow and Beijing to Michel’s comments, although Russia has already accused the EU of politicizing the COVID-19 vaccine issue.
DRAGHI FACTOR
However, the Sputnik narrative in the EU had already started to change after peer-reviewed test data published on February 2 showed that it was 92% effective, greater than the Oxford University / AstraZeneca injection and close to Pfizer / BioNTech and Moderna vaccines.
There was a new twist on February 25, when Mario Draghi made his debut at an EU summit as Italy’s new prime minister.
The former head of the European Central Bank, who is highly regarded in Brussels for saving the euro from its worst crisis years ago, took an affirmative stance on vaccines to accelerate the pace of vaccination and production in Europe.
He told other leaders that the EU should buy more doses, including from outside the bloc, and expand vaccine production.
Italy, which traditionally supports a softer stance towards Moscow, is now putting pressure on EU governments to consider Sputnik V. At a meeting of EU diplomats last Wednesday, Italy’s representative asked the EU to expand his supply of vaccines, including the Russian injection, said an official who attended the meeting said.
A spokesman for the Italian representation in the EU declined to comment.
Asked about Sputnik V, Italy’s health minister said in early March: “If a vaccine works and regulators tell us it is safe, nationality matters little to me. Italy is ready to collaborate with the Russian government.”
Italy’s openings follow the appointment of Draghi at the head of a government supported by the right-wing party of the League and Forza Italia, center-right by Silvio Berlusconi, both of whom have long called for the gradual elimination of EU sanctions against Moscow.
EU officials said, however, that doses are desperately needed now and that Sputnik V may be too late to be useful to the bloc, when deliveries of the 1.3 billion shots it has ordered are expected to accelerate later this year.
‘IT’S RUSSIAN, IT’S BAD’
Still, any reluctance by the EU to start negotiations with Sputnik V developers could weaken if the European Medicines Agency (EMA) approves the vaccine and if member states agree to inject into their territories.
On March 4, the EMA launched a continuous review of Sputnik V, the first step in a process that could lead to its approval across the EU. An EU official familiar with the process said that a decision on a possible authorization could come as early as May.
On the production front, Russia’s RDIF sovereign wealth fund last week signed an agreement with Swiss pharmaceutical company Adienne to produce small quantities of Sputnik V in Italy, although Rome was not involved in the deal.
But if Rome reaches an agreement with ReiThera, it would be Sputnik V’s most significant endorsement so far, eclipsing the deals Moscow has signed with other countries, including Brazil, Argentina and India.
Berlin also expressed an interest in producing Sputnik V in Germany, while RDIF said it was discussing production agreements with several EU countries.
RDIF declined to comment on specific agreements with companies to manufacture Sputnik V in the EU, or on any possible change in the bloc’s stance towards the vaccine.
Back in Brussels, an EU diplomat said that if the EMA approves Sputnik V, the bloc is likely to split between members in favor of cooperation with Russia and against.
Ties between Russia and the West, already in post-Cold War lows, have come under renewed pressure recently over the treatment of Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny, whose arrest prompted Brussels and Washington to impose sanctions on Moscow.
“Let’s fall into the usual division: ‘it’s Russian, it’s bad’ versus’ well, come on, we need to work together with these people,” “said the diplomat.
“There are some who are not going to want to give (Russia) this propaganda victory, and there are others who will see this as an opportunity to really show that we are cooperating.”
(Reporting by Francesco Guarascio @fraguarascio and John Chalmers in Brussels, Emilio Parodi in Milan and Polina Nikolskaya in Moscow; Additional reporting by Giselda Vagnoni and Giuseppe Fonte in Rome; Editing by David Clarke)