Astrazeneca vs. Sputnik V
New espionage allegations: Russia is said to have taken “inspiration” from Great Britain for its vaccine
Ampoules of the Russian vaccine Sputnik V
© Kirill Kukhmar / Picture Alliance
British media reported new evidence allegedly showing that Russia was spying on vaccine maker Astrazeneca. The construction plan for the corona vaccine was stolen. Russia vehemently denies this.
The allegations are serious. Russian spies, the accusation, which has now risen again in the British media, allegedly stole the blueprint for the Astrazeneca vaccine. This is said to have been used for the production of the Russian vaccine. In Russia, people are outraged and denied. The allegations are a “smear campaign”.
It was the tabloid “The Sun” that first reported this week that security services were now certain that Sputnik V was a copy of the Astrazeneca vaccine. Accordingly, there is evidence to confirm the theft of important documents. It is said to be a first draft of Astrazeneca’s corona vaccine. A Russian spy is said to have stolen the documents personally, according to “The Sun”.
Russia rejects espionage allegations
The UK government has so far neither confirmed nor commented on this. Interior Minister Damian Hinds said in an interview with the radio station “LBC” on Monday: “I will not comment on the specific case you mentioned because it would not be right to do so in detail. But it is fair to say that that we are faced with threats of this nature that are different, more sophisticated and more extensive than ever before. “
In Russia, people are angry about the allegations. “British media reports that Russia’s Sputnik V is allegedly based on research results from the Oxford / Astrazeneca vaccine are further fake news and outright lies,” said the Russian State Fund (RDIF). In contrast to the Astrazeneca vaccine – which uses a chimpanzee adenovirus vector – Sputnik V is based on a human vector.
“Smear campaign against Sputnik V”
The latest report was “complete scientific nonsense”, commented Kiril Dmitriev, head of the RDIF, to “CNBC” on Wednesday. He described the report as “nonsense from anonymous sources”. And said, “It has no value and is frankly a lie.” The allegations are part of a smear campaign against Sputnik V, “because some politicians do not like Russia and because some large pharmaceutical companies, fearful of the success of Sputnik V, attacked Sputnik V and Sputnik Light from day one.” We are used to such attacks by now.
In fact, the allegation of espionage is anything but new. The UK’s National Cyber Security Center (NCSC) reported cyber attacks on vaccine manufacturers and research groups last year. The accused hacker group APT29 belonged, the NCSC said at the time, “almost certainly” to the Russian secret service. It is not known whether the hackers were able to successfully steal medical data at the time. The Kremlin also denied these allegations.
The Russian vaccine Sputnik V was the first corona vaccine worldwide to be approved in 2020 and subsequently developed into an export hit. The drug authorities in the USA, the EU and also in Great Britain are still skeptical of the vaccine and have not yet granted approval. The available data were repeatedly assessed as inadequate. Nevertheless, Dmitriev assumes that approval will be granted this year. “We have received very positive signals from WHO lately,” he says, “we are definitely expecting approval very soon”.
Sources:The Sun, The Guardian, LBC, CNBC