US Commerce Department sanctionsThe US Department of Commerce (Photo credit:
Flickr / Ken Lund)
U.S. IMPOSES SANCTIONS ON RUSSIAN RESEARCH INSTITUTE THAT DEVELOPED COVID-19
VACCINE
BEN NORTONAUGUST 28, 2020
CORONAVIRUSRUSSIA
The US Commerce Department blacklisted a Russian research institute that
helped create the world's first Covid-19 vaccine.
Russia won the race to develop the first vaccine against the novel
coronavirus. The United States has responded by slapping sanctions on a
Russian research facility involved in creating it.
The US government has blacklisted several Russian scientific institutes,
including the Russian Defense Ministry's 48th Central Research Institute,
which has worked with other non-military medical centers to develop and test
the world's first Covid-19 vaccine.
In the midst of the global coronavirus pandemic and a historic economic
crisis, Washington has escalated its global campaign of economic warfare,
imposing sanctions on foreign adversaries and announcing new punitive
measures on a nearly daily basis.
More than one-fourth of people on Earth live in countries that are suffering
from US sanctions.
In April, a Russian company sent ventilators to the United States as a form
of humanitarian aid, to help overwhelmed hospitals treat coronavirus
patients. It was later revealed that this Russian firm had been under US
sanctions since 2014.
State-led Covid-19 vaccine research in Russia, China, Cuba beat US
'public-private partnership'
The Russian government announced this August that it had registered the
world's first Covid-19 vaccine, called Sputnik V.
Sputnik V was developed by the Russian Health Ministry's Gamaleya Research
Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology. This scientific facility created
the vaccine in a joint research project with the Russian Defense Ministry's
48th Central Research Institute.
On August 27, the US Commerce Department imposed sanctions on Russia's 48th
Central Research Institute, blacklisting the scientific body.
While Russia took a state-led approach to create a coronavirus vaccine, the
Trump administration announced a "public-private partnership" in May. The
program, called "Operation Warp Speed," saw the US government dole out
billions of tax dollars to Big Pharma companies.
The Trump administration awarded massive contracts to private corporations
like Novavax, Pfizer, and Moderna, while Trump reportedly offered "large
sums of money" for exclusive rights to a vaccine being developed by a German
firm so it could be sold for profit.
But the US public-private partnership was unable to develop a vaccine before
foreign countries with government-led research efforts did. Besides Russia,
a state-owned Chinese company says its vaccine will be ready by the end of
2020, while Cuba is doing clinical trials for a vaccine of its own.
US blacklists Russian research institutes
The US Department of Commerce's Bureau of Industry and Security announced a
series of new sanctions measures on Russian research centers in the US
government's federal register on August 27.
Washington accused the blacklisted institutes of being associated with
Russian chemical and biological weapons programs. The Kremlin denied this,
calling the accusation "absolute nonsense."
US federal register sanctions Russia research institute covid vaccine
The Russian research institutions sanctioned by the US government on August
27, 2020
A spokesperson for the Russian government called the decision "the sanctions
theater of the absurd." A Kremlin press release blasted Washington for being
unable to "live without sanctions and without declaring restrictions for
anyone every day."
"Given the scientific research of one of the institutes [which is engaged in
developing Russia's coronavirus vaccine] we cannot rule out that this is
another example of uncovered and rampant non-competitive struggle," said the
Russian government spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov.
The US government's media arm, Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty (RFE/RL),
accused these Russian research facilities of developing chemical and
biological weapons.
At the same time, RFE/RL acknowledged, "Those targeted by the U.S. Commerce
Department include one Russian Defense Ministry facility that is involved in
Russia's attempts to develop the world's first COVID-19 vaccine."
RFE/RL explained, "Formally, the move imposes new licensing restrictions on
U.S. companies that seek to do business with the blacklisted companies in
Russia or elsewhere."
Russian state media noted that, in addition to being used to conduct
clinical trials for the Covid-19 vaccine, the Defense Ministry's newly
blacklisted 48th Central Research Institute is "where vaccines against Ebola
and Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS), as well as a universal flu
vaccine, had been studied and successfully tested."
The US sanctions were imposed on the following Russian research
institutions:
33rd Scientific Research and Testing Institute
48th Central Scientific Research Institute, Kirov
48th Central Scientific Research Institute, Sergiev Posad
48th Central Scientific Research Institute, Yekaterinburg
State Scientific Research Institute of Organic Chemistry and Technology
As the US Commerce Department blacklisted these Russian research facilities,
it imposed additional sanctions on two dozen Chinese institutions - mostly
construction, technology, and communications companies - accusing them of
"engaging in activities contrary to U.S. national security interests."
