Vladimir Putin - The African Mirror

Dec

2020

Putin orders Russia to begin mass COVID-19 vaccinations

PRESIDENT Vladimir Putin has ordered Russian authorities to begin mass voluntary vaccinations against COVID-19 next week as Russia recorded 589 new daily deaths from the coronavirus. Russia will have produced 2 million vaccine doses within the next few days, Putin said. Russia said last month that its Sputnik V jab was 92% effective at protecting people from COVID-19 according to interim results. "Let's agree on this - you will not report to me next week, but you will start mass vaccination... let's get to work already," Putin told Deputy Prime Minister Tatiana Golikova. Deputy Prime Minister Tatiana Golikova Golikova said…

Nov

2020

By The African Mirror

Russia, eyeing foreign markets, says Sputnik COVID-19 vaccine to cost under $20

COVID-19

ANDREW OSBORN and POLINA NIKOLSKAYA RUSSIA’S Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine will cost under $20 per person on international markets and Moscow aims to produce more than a billion doses at home and abroad next year, its financial backers and developers said on Tuesday. The Sputnik vaccine, named after the Soviet-era satellite that triggered the space race in a nod to the project's geopolitical importance for Moscow, is administered in two shots, each of which will cost less than $10, according to the official Sputnik V Twitter account. For Russian citizens, inoculation will be free of charge. Mass vaccination in Russia,…

Sep

2020

By The African Mirror

Russia’s Putin wants stronger WHO, proposes conference on coronavirus vaccine

WORLD

RUSSIAN President Vladimir Putin has told the U.N. General Assembly that the World Health Organization should be strengthened to coordinate the global response to the coronavirus pandemic and proposed a high-level conference on vaccine cooperation. "We are proposing to hold an online high-level conference shortly for countries interested in cooperation in the development of anti-coronavirus vaccines," Putin said. "We are ready to share experience and continue cooperating with all states and international entities, including in supplying the Russian vaccine which has proved reliable, safe, and effective, to other countries," he said. Russia was the first country to grant regulatory approval…

Aug

2020

By The African Mirror

Germany says Russian COVID-19 vaccine has not been sufficiently tested

COVID-19

GERMAN Health Minister Jens Spahn says Russia's COVID-19 vaccine had not been sufficiently tested, adding the aim was to have a safe product rather than just being first to start vaccinating people. President Vladimir Putin announced on Tuesday that Russia had become the first country to grant regulatory approval to a COVID-19 vaccine after less than two months of human testing. Moscow's decision to grant approval before final trials have been completed has raised concerns among some experts. "It can be dangerous to start vaccinating millions, if not billions, of people too early because it could pretty much kill the…

Aug

2020

By The African Mirror

Russia approves world’s first COVID-19 vaccine

NEWS

PRESIDENT Vladimir Putin has revealed that Russia had become the first country in the world to grant regulatory approval to a COVID-19 vaccine after less than two months of human testing, a move hailed by Moscow as evidence of its scientific prowess. The development paves the way for the mass inoculation of the Russian population, even as the final stage of clinical trials to test safety and efficacy continue. The speed at which Russia is moving to roll out its vaccine highlights its determination to win the global race for an effective product, but has stirred concerns that it may…

Jul

2020

By The African Mirror

As Biden VP pick nears, Susan Rice slams Trump for being soft on Russia’s Putin

WORLD

JASON LANGE FORMER U.S. national security adviser Susan Rice, who is on Joe Biden's shortlist to be his running mate, has criticized President Donald Trump for failing to question Russian leader Vladimir Putin about reports Moscow paid bounties for the killing of U.S. troops. "He is absolutely a failure as our commander in chief," Rice told the ABC network in an interview. "He has got some very bizarre, very inexplicable reason for always giving Putin the benefit of the doubt." Trump said in an interview on Tuesday with "Axios on HBO" that he never questioned Putin about U.S. intelligence reports…

Jul

2020

By The African Mirror

Germany rejects Trump’s proposal to let Russia back into G7 -foreign minister

WORLD

GERMANY has rejected a proposal by U.S. President Donald Trump to invite Russian President Vladimir Putin back into the Group of Seven (G7) most advanced economies, German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said in a newspaper interview. Trump raised the prospect last month of expanding the G7 to again include Russia, which had been expelled in 2014 following Moscow's annexation of Ukraine's Crimea region. But Maas told Rheinische Post that he did not see any chance for allowing Russia back into the G7 as long as there was no meaningful progress in solving the conflict in Crimea as well as in…