Lithuania Refuses to Consider the Sputnik V as COVID-19 Remains a Major Problem

Wednesday, February 10, 2021

Paul Antonopoulos, independent geopolitical analyst

Lithuanian authorities announced that another consignment of COVID-19 vaccines has arrived in the country. However, these vaccines are only for paltry 1,000 people, not anywhere near enough to make a difference in the goal towards mass immunity. There is a growing shortage of vaccines throughout the EU, but evidently there is a catastrophic lack of them in Lithuania. At current rates, even with the highest optimism, those who are not on Lithuania’s priority list have little chance of getting vaccinated this year.

The situation is critical – every day passing means more infections and more death. Lithuania undoubtedly needs more vaccines because what it receives through the EU is not enough. The logical choice would be for Lithuania to procure more desperately needed vaccines from neighboring Russia. Despite the urgency for vaccines in Lithuania, Prime Minister Ingrida Šimonytė ended any idea of her country procuring the Russian-made Sputnik V vaccine, initially using the formal excuse that it has not yet been approved by the European Medicines Agency.

Joseph Borrell, the EU’s head of diplomacy, recently visited Moscow and expressed his hope that the Russian vaccine would soon be used throughout the bloc and approved by EMA. Leading medical journal, The Lancet, announced that Sputnik V is 91.6% effective against symptomatic COVID-19 cases, prompting intense interest in the Russian vaccine from several EU countries, including Germany, France, Greece and Czechia. Hungary has already acted unilaterally by approving Sputnik V for use.

Since there is already intense interest from the EU, Šimonytė was asked if Lithuania would buy Sputnik V, in which she replied: “I’m sorry, but I can’t follow the assumptions, because the EMA decides which vaccine should be approved, not Mr. Borrell. There will be no more comments on this topic from what I already said because Sputnik V is not a vaccine included in our vaccination portfolio.”

And it is here where the truth of the matter is – Lithuanian authorities would rather see their citizens continue to suffer from COVID-19 and delay a return to normalcy by refusing any consideration of using Sputnik V, effectively prioritizing its antagonizations against Moscow over the interests of Lithuanians.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said the Russian vaccine could be used if approved by the EMA, and French President Emmanuel Macron expressively said all vaccines that are approved, including Sputnik V, will be used. The European Commission has not yet announced plans for the mass purchase of Sputnik V vaccines, but EU members can purchase non-European Economic Area approved vaccines on their own. This just means that individual states can make these purchases but they will not be negotiated at a Community level like when the EU mass purchased Pfizer and Moderna vaccines.

However, in Lithuania, the issue of the Sputnik V vaccine has a clear political agenda that is not shared by the majority of EU countries. Initially, Lithuanian citizens were told that Russia made an unsafe vaccine. But now that Western scientists have confirmed it is safe for use, decisionmakers in the Lithuanian capital of Vilnius are being extremely cynical and risking the lives of their citizens by basing their decision on political motives.

Vilnius is currently finding it impossible to separate their geopolitical goals of pressuring Russia from domestic medical priorities. Laurynas Kasčiūnas, Chairman of the National Security and Defense Committee of the Seimas (Lithuanian Parliament), also believes that Lithuania should not purchase the Sputnik V vaccine as, according to him, there is a lack of data on its safety and because of political reasons.

“Of course, this is also part of the nationalism of vaccines. By offering a vaccine, Russia is trying to break the unity of the EU,” said Kasčiūnas without explaining how or why a Russian vaccine would foster disunity in the EU.

This sentiment was shared by Šimonytė, who said on Twitter: “They say, Sputnik V is good but Putin doesn’t care to use it as a cure for the Russian people – he offers it to the world as another hybrid weapon to divide and rule. This is neither new nor good for mankind.”

However, it is only Lithuania that would cause disunity in the bloc as the overwhelming majority of EU members are willing to sideline their political differences with Russia in matters concerning COVID-19 and the health of their citizens. It is likely that EU countries will begin purchasing Sputnik V once approved by the EMA with no interest in Lithuania’s objections.

At a joint press conference with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov last Friday, Borrell expressed hope that the EMA would approve the Russian vaccine in the EU. He also said that the Sputnik V vaccine is “good news for the whole of mankind because it means we will have more tools to fight the pandemic.” Effectively, the EU is willing to sideline political differences and use all vaccines that are available so long as they pass the stringent requirements of the EMA.

Despite Lithuania having hundreds of new cases and tens of deaths every day, massive numbers for a country of less than 2.8 million people, its insistence on boycotting Sputnik V is a major detriment to their own citizens. Vilnius has clearly demonstrated it would rather have more of its citizens be infected and die of COVID-19 then procure a Russian made vaccine. 

Source: InfoBrics