Russian authorities are spreading false information about the production of the Sputnik V vaccine in EU countries, according to specialists from both the Finnish Foreign Ministry and the Prime Minister's Office.
The foreign ministry’s Ambassador for Health and Wellbeing, Päivi Sillanaukee,told Yle Radio 1's Ykkösaamu that information provided by Russia about the production of the Sputnik vaccine in Germany, Italy and France is untrue.
Several media outlets reported this week that Russia's RDIF sovereign wealth fund confirmed it had reached "agreements with companies from Italy, Spain, France, and Germany to launch production" of the Sputnik vaccine.
"The people in charge there have pointed out that no such agreements have yet been concluded, and in any case it would require the approval of the European Medicines Agency (EMA) and a wide range of other approvals from the pharmaceutical authorities in each country," Sillanaukee said, adding that Russia is testing the reaction of other countries with the announcement of the agreements.
She further stated that the start of production would in any case be slow, and would be unlikely to begin until the end of the year if agreements were indeed reached with states or companies.
Sillanaukee, who is also a member of the Executive Board of the World Health Organization (WHO), said that the development of the Sputnik vaccine is a scientific win for Russia.
Economic, political motives
Russia has both economic and political motives in announcing the agreements, according to Jussi Toivanen, Chief Communications Specialist at the Prime Minister's Office.
Russia, he said, may want to disrupt EU unity by spreading false information.
"It can also have a purely economic motive: with the aim of getting trade," he added.
Hungary has already started using the Sputnik vaccine while the Czech Republic and Slovakia have ordered doses and indicated that they will begin rolling it out even without EMA approval. Russia is currently applying for a Europe-wide marketing authorisation for Sputnik from the EMA.
The application process begins with preliminary research that Sillanaukee said is now underway. No formal permit application has, however, as yet been submitted.