Atlantic Council : Geopolitics complicates Ukraine’s vaccine quest
Posted By PRChannel Team - Gibraltar (Remote)

In the global struggle for COVID vaccines, Ukraine has emerged as a marginalized borderland. As has happened so often throughout Ukrainian history, the country finds itself on the frontier between the European community of nations and the vast authoritarian empires of Eurasia.

On one side are the EU member states, which have already ordered their vaccines and launched national inoculation campaigns. Except for a comparatively small Moderna contract, the vaccines in use throughout the European Union are virtually all EU-developed or manufactured.

On the other side of the divide stand Russia and China. Both superpowers are pursuing predatory vaccine strategies that seek to convert global demand for vaccination into geopolitical advantage.

Ukraine is the largest of the many non-aligned countries in the region that now find themselves scrambling to secure vaccine supplies. All have difficult choices to make. The consequences go beyond healthcare and will likely impact on future diplomatic relations. Ukraine’s seven-year undeclared war with Russia further complicates matters for Kyiv and makes the vaccine supply issue a matter of national security.    

In Ukraine’s neighbourhood, Belarus has predictably opted for Russia’s Sputnik vaccine and Turkey has signed a large contract with Chinese manufacturer Sinovac. Meanwhile, Serbia has placed parallel orders for Sputnik and China’s Sinopharm vaccine.

For the non-EU member states of the Balkans along with Ukraine and Moldova, the options are somewhat more complex. They must balance their longstanding commitment to European integration against the practicalities of fighting the pandemic. Read More

About Atlantic Council

Shaping the global future together