Russian «vaccine diplomacy» in Latin America: achievements, problems and prospects

The article represents comprehensive analysis of achievements and challenges of Russian vaccine diplomacy in Latin America. The vaccines (against new disease COVID-19) manufacturing provoked a new round of competition among great powers. Russia, the first country in the world that registered COVID-19 vaccine, has been recognized as “the great pharmaceutical power”, but at the same time faced competition from the US pharmaceutical companies. Latin America has become one of the most important markets for exporting Russian vaccine “Sputnik V”. A lot of states of Central and South America have registered and actively use Russian vaccine; some of them participate in the localization of production. However, in this region Russia also faces information and bureaucratic warfare to the spread of its vaccine, which is often caused by unfair competition from the United States. Moscow makes significant efforts to promote “Sputnik V” and its single-component version “Sputnik Light” in the region. The policy of institutions responsible for promoting Russian COVID-19 vaccine to the foreign markets, support for “Sputnik V” by the authorities, medical community and civil society in many Latin American countries as well as high efficiency of Russian vaccine are success factors of Moscow vaccine diplomacy in the region, despite all the existing challenges.