From Russia With Love: The Irresistible Rise of Kremlin’s Medical Diplomacy / Abhishek Mohanty

Abhishek Mohanty – Author is currently studying M.A. Political Governance at the Russian Presidential Academy, Moscow. He is a Non-Resident Research Fellow at Center for South-Caucasus-South Asia Business Development, New Delhi and Eurasia Research and Analysis Institute, California.

 
© diplomatist.com, 2020

Ever since Russia initiated its medical aid campaigns to foreign countries severely entangled in the COVID-19 pandemic, international reactions have been split into two major groups. The diverse attitudes have ranged from the assumption of a “bad samaritan” to “profound appreciation”. The adverse views have never surprised the Kremlin. During the Cold War, Russophobic and anti-Communist rhetoric were greatly encouraged in the West, and the attitude in the Post-Cold War era hasn’t improved a bit. Nevertheless, the failure of the European Union was visible as they failed to offer immediate assistance to its members in the course of the crisis. The article explores the progress of Kremlin’s medical diplomacy in the time of COVID-19 outbreak, examines the Russian responses toward the negative reactions on its medical aid, and explains why the western media and leaders should confine their ideological prejudice at least in the time of the pandemic. 

Tracking the Development of Russia’s medical diplomacy

At the height of the coronavirus epidemic in China, the Russian government sent a military plane with 23 tons of medical aid to Wuhan, the epicentre of the virus on 15 March 2020. This was communicated by the Chinese ambassador to Moscow, Zhang Hanhui in an interview with Russian media outlet Izvestia. According to him, Russia sent medical masks, gloves, goggles, and protective clothing with a total volume of about 2 million 227 thousand sets.

From March 22 to 25, fifteen IL-76 special mission aircraft of Russian armed forces landed in Italy bringing medical equipment and military doctors, followed by a telephonic conversation between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte on 21 March. The aircraft and shipments had stickers in heart form with Russian and Italian flags and a printed motto “From Russia with Love”. The Orio al Serio airport in Italy was converted into the headquarters of joint Russian-Italian anti-coronavirus initiative.

On April 1, Russia sent its first batch of medical supplies to the United States through one of the biggest cargo aircraft in its military inventory, an Antonov An-123 Ruslan which carried protective gear and medical equipment. Russia’s initiative also resulted from a telephonic conversation between President Putin and US President Trump. Paradoxically, some of the medical equipment was manufactured by the Ural Instrument Production Factory, a subsidiary of Concern Radio-Electronic Technologies (controlled by state-owned Rostec Corporation) which has been under the US sanctions since 2014 due to the Crimea crisis.

On the very same day when the Russian cargo aircraft landed in New York, the Russian Defence Ministry posted a video recording on its social media accounts in which its doctors and chemical/radiological experts in Italy were seen sanitizing senior care centres through portable spray disinfection stations and decontamination apparatus. This was seen as a moral victory for Russia as Italian citizens responded positively to this initiative.

Serbia, one of the strongest allies of Russia in the European continent received 11 planes with medical equipment from April 3 to April 6, which included 87 ventilators and medicine that were part of an agreement between President Putin and Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic. Russia also sent 87 army medics and “16 pieces of military equipment”. Three weeks before the dispatch, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic had criticised the European Union for lack of solidarity with his country, besides allegedly blocking the export of medical equipment from the union, and requested for assistance from “brotherly” Russia and China.

The most notable assistance was directed towards Iran and Venezuela who are under the sanctions regime of the United States. Both countries reported that due to the draconian sanctions, they were not able to receive humanitarian assistance and medical supplies from several countries. However, their robust cooperation with Russia in stabilising the polycentric world order proved to be a boon in this critical juncture, as the country offered both of them around 100,000 testing kits and necessary medical equipment.

International Response to Russian medical diplomacy

La Stampa, one of Italy’s oldest and leading left-leaning newspapers raised several questions regarding Russian motives in the assistance. In one of its articles, it quoted from an anonymous political source that 80% of the medical equipment provided by Russia was of little or no use. It also raised speculations about the movement of the Russian military inside Italy which could lead to security breach since the northern region of the country accommodates several NATO military bases. However, the key reason for their outcry was “From Russia with Love” stickers which were printed all over the medical supplies and aircraft.

For many nostalgic spy movie fans, the slogan may remind them of the 1963 film in which James Bond clashed with SPECTRE in order to assist the defection of a Soviet consulate clerk in Turkey. However, there is no spy conspiracy in Russia’s medical aid to Italy as Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte clarified in his speech at the Senate on 26 March that it’s absurd to think country’s geopolitical outlook could be altered by coronavirus crisis relief initiatives. Moreover, the initiative was joint cooperation of Russian and Italian defence ministries, so there should not be any space for suspicion of spying activities.

Foreign Policy, a leading western-oriented international opinion media, was quick to label Russia as a “Bad Samaritan” in one of its articles. The article went ahead of the logic of La Stampa and additionally alleged that Russia was devising a plot like the Occupied, a famous Norwegian television series which was based on a shadowy occupation of Norway. But, while digging up a bit I found that the author of the article works at Royal United Services Institute, a London-based think tank which is massively funded by George Soros-led Open Society Foundation, whose activities have been banned in Russia under the Russian undesirable organizations law, due to its anti-Russian coverage. 

Read more in the sourсe: http://diplomatist.com/2020/05/02/from-russia-with-love-the-irresistible-rise-of-kremlins-medical-diplomacy/