DISINFORMATION CASE DETAILS
- Outlet: akhbarak.net ( archive, original ) , arabic.rt.com ( archive, original ) , bwabtk.com ( archive, original ) , ertikaznews.com ( archive, original ) , iq.shafaqna.com ( archive, original ) , lomazoma.com ( archive, original ) , mulhak.com ( archive, original ) , nafeza2world.com ( archive, original ) , newhub.org ( archive, original ) , newsformy.com ( archive, original ) , ru4arab.ru ( archive, original ) , ruarab.top ( archive, original ) , shamra.sy ( archive, original )
- Date of publication: February 09, 2021
- Countries / regions discussed: Ukraine, Russia
DISINFO: Ukraine focusing on refusing "Sputnik V" instead of saving lives
SUMMARY
Ukraine’s refusal to adopt the Russian “Sputnik V” vaccine against the Coronavirus is due to Kyiv’s efforts to satisfy “Western supervisors” instead of focusing on the lives of its citizens.
Relations between Moscow and Kyiv are experiencing great tension against the backdrop of the crisis that erupted in Ukraine in 2014, which led to a change of power in the country, an outbreak of an armed conflict in the Donbas region, and the return of the Crimean peninsula to the Russian motherland.
RESPONSE
A recurring pro-Kremlin narrative about the coronavirus pandemic and alleged supervision from the US/ West in addition to a recurring narrative about Ukrainian statehood.
The claim that Ukraine's refusal of any Russian-made vaccine is due to it "satisfying Western supervisors" has no factual base.
The main reason for this step goes back to Russia being a “state-aggressor” in relation to the occupied Crimea, the city of Sevastopol and certain areas of Donbas. This article also contains a recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative about the illegal annexation of Crimea, claiming that it has rejoined Russia, following the covert invasion by “little green men”, through a legal referendum that the EU and UN do not recognise. Vladimir Putin, the President of Russia, even admitted that the plan to annex Crimea was ordered weeks before the so-called referendum.
Regarding the comment about Ukraine 'not saving lives', President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Kyiv had secured 20 million vaccine doses from the global COVAX scheme, from China, from India and from the EU and the government hopes to start vaccinating its population of 41 million in mid-February.
See other similar examples in our database claiming that WHO and Microsoft sabotaged the Russian vaccine; that Europe is turning to Russia due to its desperate need for a vaccine; or that rejection of Sputnik V is a planned operation to kill Ukrainians; or that it’s better for Ukrainians to die than to be saved by cheap Russian vaccine.