DISINFO: The EU announced contacts with Russia about the Sputnik V vaccine

The headline and the introductory paragraph of this story are deliberately misleading. The articles themselves says that it was the developer of the vaccine, Russia’s Gamaleya Centre, who contacted the European Medicines Agency in order to start conversations, a fact that was confirmed by the European Commission at the request of Sputnik. Therefore, it is false that the European Commission “announced its first contacts” with Russia about the vaccine.

The distortion is an attempt to boost the legitimacy of the Sputnik V vaccine by implying that the European Union and its high regulatory standards may be interested on it. These articles were published one day after the head of the Russian Direct Investment Fund Kirill Dmitriev announced that Russia is discussing possible production of the Sputnik V vaccine in Germany and that RDIF expected a visit by a delegation from France the same week.

This is part of a disinformation campaign launched after president Vladimir Putin’s announcement of the approval of the vaccine was met with skepticism and criticism, even by Russian specialists in the country. See other examples in our database, such as claims that Western attacks on the Russian coronavirus vaccine are a corporate Cold War against humanity; that the UK launched a smear campaign against it; that the US and the EU face multiple deaths out of fear to admit Russia’s success against coronavirus; that the WHO confirmed that the Sputnik V was on Phase 3 of clinical testing already in August 2020; that the WHO and Microsoft sabotaged the Russian vaccine; that Europe is turning to Russia due to its desperate need for a vaccine; or that the West criticises the Sputnik V because it can’t accept Russia’s primacy and because its pharmaceutical companies will lose billions of dollars.