Roberto Ciavatta, State Secretary for Health of the Republic of San Marino, sounded almost a little despondent in a television interview last week. Ciavatta told the Italian broadcaster “La 7” that his country tried to get a corona vaccine approved by the European Medicines Agency (EMA) through all official channels. But the efforts were unsuccessful. “That is why we turned to the Russian Federation and thus gained access to Sputnik deliveries.” A success for the mini-state in the middle of Italy - and for Putin's propaganda machine.