Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Siyjarto said the first consignments of the Russian coronavirus vaccine will arrive in the country in December for final testing and licensing. 

“Russia will start shipping small doses of vaccine in December to complete clinical trials, test the vaccine here and complete the licensing process.

They (RF -

RT

) said that they would be able to start large-scale deliveries from the second or third week of January, ”Siyarto said in a video message on his Facebook page, noting that he had already talked with Russian Health Minister Mikhail Murashko.

In addition, as noted by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Hungary, one of the enterprises of the republic can deploy at its facilities the production of the Russian vaccine against COVID-19.

"European strategy"

Hungary is currently the only EU country that has decided to purchase a vaccine from the Russian Federation.

We will remind, on October 30, the Prime Minister of the Republic Viktor Orban said that deliveries of the Russian vaccine against coronavirus will start in late December or early January.

As a result, the head of government hopes that Hungary will be able to overcome the pandemic as early as April 2021.

Earlier in the office of the Prime Minister of Hungary, it was reported that the country's health experts will study the effectiveness of vaccines against COVID-19, developed by Russia and China.

Also, Budapest will purchase 6.5 million doses of the drug from the British-Swedish pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca with a total value of 13 billion forints ($ 42.9 million).

However, Brussels reacted negatively to Hungary's plans to purchase vaccines in the Russian Federation and China.

As the official representative of the European Commission (EC), Eric Mamer, said on October 30, all coronavirus vaccines supplied to the EU are subject to mandatory European certification.

“Undoubtedly, any vaccine that is currently available or may appear on the territory of the European Union must meet the EU quality standards, as well as undergo a certification procedure,” Mamer said.

He stressed that Brussels is not negotiating with either Russia or China.

According to him, "this is the European vaccination strategy and all EU countries have agreed to adhere to it."

True, later the representative of the EC, Stefan de Keersmaker, clarified that Budapest still has the right to buy the Russian vaccine, but in limited quantities and in the event of an emergency.

Commenting on the decision of Hungary to purchase the Russian vaccine, experts note that the republic is one of the few countries in the Western world that is trying to pursue a sovereign foreign policy.

“Viktor Orban is constantly accused of undermining“ European unity ”and is under a flurry of criticism from the Brussels bureaucracy.

In the situation with the Russian vaccine, he once again made a choice in favor of Hungarian citizens, his voters, who support his course against the European political mainstream, "Nikita, Deputy Director of the Institute for Strategic Studies and Forecasts of the RUDN University, a member of the Public Chamber of the Russian Federation, said in an interview with RT. Danyuk.

  • Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban

  • Reuters

  • © Aris Oikonomou

Political analyst Alexander Asafov, in turn, also recalled that Budapest is not the first time faced with pressure from Brussels.

In an interview with RT, the expert predicted that the EU would try to convince Orban to import the Russian vaccine, and could also impose sanctions against Hungary.

Nevertheless, the prime minister of the republic is unlikely to change his point of view, Asafov said.

“By increasing the pressure, Brussels may impose sanctions against Budapest, but they are unlikely to be so serious as to influence Orban's policy.

Most likely, the EU will limit itself to expressions of discontent and threats.

In any case, Hungary has the right to purchase the Russian vaccine for its own needs, ”Asafov stressed.

Exclude Russian competition

The plans of the European Union are to organize the distribution of doses of certified vaccines among all EU member states, taking into account the population size of each of them, at a time and on the same terms. 

In May, the European Medicines Agency suggested that under the optimistic scenario, a fully tested COVID-19 vaccine would be ready for widespread use in about a year.

The European Commission promises that vaccination will start in early 2021.

However, Brussels is unlikely to be able to meet the needs of the entire EU population in the short term.

So, at the end of October, Reuters, citing a statement by an EC representative made at a closed meeting with the participation of European diplomats, reported that the EU authorities would not be able to vaccinate all EU citizens until the end of 2021. 

To date, Brussels has reserved over 1 billion doses of potential vaccines from various companies.

The website of the European Medicines Agency says that two drugs are at the testing stage.

The first vaccine, BNT162b2, was developed by the German biotechnology company BioNTech in collaboration with the American corporation Pfizer.

The second drug ChAdOx1-SARS-CoV-2 was developed by AstraZeneca in collaboration with the University of Oxford.

At the same time, the website of the European Commission informs about the signing of contracts for the production of vaccines (in case of successful testing) with the following companies: AstraZeneca, the French-British alliance Sanofi-GSK, the Belgian Janssen Pharmaceutica NV - a division of the American Johnson & Johnson.

The EC is also at the stage of negotiations with BioNTech-Pfizer, German CureVac and overseas Moderna.

According to experts, the current epidemiological situation, which is characterized by an explosive increase in the incidence of COVID-19 almost all over the world, dictates the need to import vaccines and drugs that are already on the market.

For this reason, Hungary, like more than 25 other states, made an adequate decision, turning to Moscow for help, analysts say. 

At the moment, two drugs for coronavirus have been registered in Russia: "Sputnik V" developed by the N.N.

NF Gamalei (Moscow) and "EpiVacCorona", created by specialists of the FBSI SSC VB "Vector" (Novosibirsk).

  • Vaccination of volunteers with the Russian drug "Sputnik V"

  • RIA News

  • © Victor Tolochko

Alexander Asafov stated that in the current realities, the issue of supplying vaccines from the Russian Federation has acquired a political connotation.

According to him, the European Union, along with the United States and Ukraine, proceeds from the categorical unacceptability of the import of Russian drugs for coronavirus, despite the difficult situation with the spread of infection. 

“The Russian vaccine is bad for the West for exactly the same reasons that gas from the Russian Federation is undesirable.

By and large, it's not about European certification.

It's just that the West has always had a tendency to politicize such sensitive image issues.

Europe now does not have a single registered vaccine, but it continues to ignore the needs of its own citizens and reproaches those who refuse to follow the same path, ”Asafov stressed.

In this context, according to the expert, the Ukrainian leadership took an extremely unreasonable position, which rejected the possibility of supplying a Russian vaccine, although Viktor Medvedchuk, leader of the political council of the Opposition Platform - For Life party, tried to agree on this during his October visit to Moscow.

“Ukraine is not a member of the EU, but has already renounced the right to sovereign decisions.

In my opinion, the "managers" from the EU and the US have delivered an ultimatum to Ukraine: the Russian vaccine should not appear on its territory.

We see that Kiev obeys, it has no subjectivity and there is no opportunity to make any decisions in favor of the Ukrainian society, ”Asafov argues.

Nikita Danyuk, in turn, sees in the reluctance to import the Russian vaccine the desire of Western companies to master the markets of the USA, Europe and Ukraine, excluding competition from Moscow.

According to the expert, pharmaceutical giants risk losing not only the reputation of the flagships of medical science, but also billions of dollars in revenue from drug sales.

“If a Russian vaccine gets into Europe, it will, of course, greatly harm the image of European and Western science in general in the medical industry.

It is for this reason that the EU refuses to purchase and cooperate with the Russian Federation on the development of a vaccine.

In addition, such actions can jeopardize the notorious policy of transatlantic solidarity, ”Danyuk summed up.