{"id":449361,"date":"2021-04-27T08:53:36","date_gmt":"2021-04-27T08:53:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.moldova.org\/en\/?p=449361"},"modified":"2021-04-27T11:35:12","modified_gmt":"2021-04-27T11:35:12","slug":"behind-vaccine-donations-sputnik-v-in-exchange-for-some-good-moldovan-wine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.moldova.org\/en\/behind-vaccine-donations-sputnik-v-in-exchange-for-some-good-moldovan-wine\/","title":{"rendered":"Behind vaccine donations: Sputnik V in exchange for some good Moldovan wine"},"content":{"rendered":"Reading Time: <\/span> 3<\/span> minutes<\/span><\/span>

Last weekend, a Sputnik-V vaccine donation arrived in Chisinau. “It was brought by the PSRM [Party of Socialists of the Republic of Moldova] leader, Igor Dodon, with a special flight,” <\/em>socialists announced<\/a> on their page. The donation was made “following the agreements between Igor Dodon and Vladimir Putin,”<\/em> they said. Socialists claimed that a batch of 142 thousand jabs was delivered to Moldova<\/span>, while another 40 thousand will be provided soon.<\/p>\n

Several officials, including Speaker of Parliament, Zinaida Greceanii<\/strong>, and Russia’s Ambassador to Moldova, Oleg Vasnetsov<\/strong>, attended the ceremony of receiving the donation. The Russian officials emphasised the fact that the vaccine would have been offered free of charge thanks to the request made by Speaker of Parliament. “The Republic of Moldova is a parliamentary country and the State Duma of the Russian Federation is proud that it managed to carry out this joint activity with the Parliament of the Republic of Moldova,”<\/em> socialists quoted<\/a> the Russian MP Viktor Seliverstov<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

This is the first time when a vaccine donation from external partners was territorially delimited (separate boxes were labelled for the Republic of Moldova and Transnistria<\/span>), being picked up by both Moldovan and Transnistrian sides. Transnistrian officials, along with the region’s media also attended the ceremony.<\/p>\n

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Source: socialistii.md<\/p><\/div>\n

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Source: zonadesecuritate.md<\/p><\/div>\n

A halved vaccine batch<\/h3>\n

While socialists were proudly announcing the batch of 142 thousand jabs received, representatives of the Ministry of Health, Labour and Social Protection (MHLSP)<\/strong> claimed that, in fact, only 71 thousand doses were received from the Russian Federation<\/span>. “31 thousand are for the districts on the left bank of the Dniester and 40 thousand for the districts on the right bank of the Dniester,”\u00a0<\/em>Secretary of State of MHLSP, Denis Cernelea<\/strong>, informed<\/a>\u00a0ZdG.<\/p>\n

Tiraspol officials also announced a batch of 62 thousand jabs during the weekend. Later on, upon arrival of the serum in the warehouses, it was discovered that the real received number is 31 thousand. The leader of the Transnistrian region, Vadim Krasnoselski<\/strong>, commented<\/a> that the other component of the serum will arrive in the region later, without specifying the date.<\/p>\n

“It is not clear yet when component two will arrive. It should be the beginning of May, but we are waiting for confirmations to be sure,”<\/em> Alexei Ceban<\/strong>, Coordinator of the communication group on immunization against COVID-19, told<\/a> ZdG.<\/p>\n

Sputnik V initial immunization and booster are two different components. AD26 adenovirus is used for the first dose and AD5 for the second one. Taking into consideration that only AD26 arrived in Moldova, vaccine jabs haven’t been distributed yet and the vaccination process with Sputnik V has not started. Without the booster jabs received right away, the Russian donation is simply useless. It appears as not more than a thoughtless political movement for polishing the image of the officials who got off the plane and those who received the donation.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Is it a donation?<\/h3>\n

The most curious things happened after receiving the vaccine jabs though. After the Sputnik V batch was unloaded, 322 boxes of Cricova produced wine seemed to be loaded onto the airplane<\/span>. The “Zona de Securitate” media portal published<\/a> a series of photos showing the wine boxes being brought by a minibus and passed through the VIP lounge of Chisinau International Airport. Consequently, they would have been loaded onto the aircraft of the Ministry of Emergency Situations of the Russian Federation.<\/p>\n

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Source: zonadesecuritate.md<\/p><\/div>\n

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Source: zonadesecuritate.md<\/p><\/div>\n