Russia’s Gamaleya Center—which developed Spuntik V—is supposed to be manufacturing the life-saving drug it created. So it’s a little bit weird that government contracts show that the famed research institute is buying Sputnik V from an undisclosed vendor, and then delivering these doses to the Russian population under the “Gamaleya” brand. It’s even weirder that some of these contracts are denominated in US dollars. What’s going on here, guys?
An incredible report from REGNUM news agency has the details:
Gintsburg and the Gamaleya Center: from whom do they buy the vaccine in bulk for rubles and dollars?
A problem with one unknown. Who is the “only supplier” to whom the Gamaleya Center pays billions to produce the vaccine? Who produces the vaccine under the Gamaleya Center brand?
The contradictory comments of Alexander Gintsburg, the head of the Gamaleya Research Center, who is the developer and one of the manufacturers of the Gam-Covid-Vac (Sputnik V) vaccine, are already being compared with the fairy tales of the Brothers Grimm. In December 2020, Gintsburg ambitiously said that Sputnik V would create immunity from the infection of the 21st century for two years, in April 2021 he also expressed his hope for lifelong preservation of immunity after vaccination, and in June the head of the Gamaleya center announced that to be vaccinated it is necessary “every six months”. So all the same: will there be protection for six months, a year, two years or for life? This is a question not only of the epidemiological welfare of the Russian Federation, but also of huge money, astronomical margins for some.
IA REGNUM analyzed the state orders of the center of Gamaleya and discovered the most curious thing: a state institution, which is listed not only as a developer, but also as a manufacturer of a vaccine, for 2020-2021 acted as a customer (!!!) for about 30 government contracts with a certain "single supplier" for the production of tens of millions doses of "Sputnik V". The total amount of these transactions in the summer of this year crossed the mark of 113.6 billion rubles, and at least three of them were for very decent amounts in foreign currency. But the supplier himself does not appear in open sources and is not disclosed.
So who makes the Gamaleya Center-branded vaccine? Interesting details about the center of Gamaleya - in the material of IA REGNUM.
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Gamaleya government contracts
To calculate the approximate cost of vaccines, refer to the data of the stopcoronavirus website. rf, which specifies that 50,960,796 people were fully vaccinated. It should be recalled that the lion's share in this volume is accounted for by Sputnik V.
At the end of February 2021, the Russian government announced a reduction in purchase prices for vaccines from 1.9 thousand rubles to 850-870 rubles for two components. Thus, the cost of vaccines with such injections (taking into account 50.9 million vaccinated) should be about 43.826 billion rubles. But here's what's interesting: back in May 2021, in a publication by Rossiyskaya Gazeta, a representative of the Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation stated that the volumes of the coronavirus vaccine released had already cost the budget almost 60 billion rubles. Such discrepancies are somewhat confusing. Especially against the background of compulsory vaccination and a developed aggressive campaign against citizens who do not want to be vaccinated.
IA REGNUM, using the data of the "State expenditures" project of the Accounts Chamber of the Russian Federation, analyzed the contracts of the Gamaleya center from 2020 worth 1 million rubles and more, which related to the development and production of a vaccine, and found out an interesting detail.
The center, which is listed as the manufacturer of the Sputnik V vaccine, for 2020-2021 acted as the customer (!!!) of about 30 government contracts for “execution of work on the production of the drug Gam-COVID-Vac”. All contracts were signed according to the "purchase from a single supplier" scheme, but the supplier itself was not disclosed.
Three contracts were concluded in foreign currency. Their total cost is 30.18 million US dollars (about 2.12 billion rubles). For example, on July 10, 2021, a contract was signed for US $15.6 million and for 1 million doses.
The largest ruble contract was signed on July 30, 2021 in the amount of 33,500,322,296.64 rubles and 34,839,120 doses, that is, about 961.5 rubles per dose at the selling price for the Sputnik V vaccine, approved by the Russian government, at 866 rubles 81 kopecks for two components.
There were in 2021 with the same single, but unknown supplier, contracts for 17.3 billion rubles, 9.6 billion rubles, 9.04 billion rubles, as well as four contracts in the region of 7-7.7 billion rubles, and so on. At the same time, the website zakupki.gov.ru has no information on all contracts.
Based on the results of the procurement analysis, it can be concluded that during these two years the Gamaleya center purchased millions of doses of vaccine from a third party.
It is noteworthy that the center itself under the management of Gintsburg acted as a supplier under contracts for the same vaccine, that is, it actually resold it already to various regional government agencies and departments? For example, on August 12, 2021, he signed a contract for 47,674,500 rubles with the FKU CBIT EMERCOM of Russia. According to it, the Gamaleya center undertook to deliver 50 thousand doses of Gam-COVID-Vak at a price of 953.49 rubles per dose (higher than the selling price approved by the government of the Russian Federation).
But there is also a nuance. If we consider the official tenders over the past couple of years, then such parties as the center of Gamaleya purchased, it did not sell through competitive supplies. Were these millions of doses sold bypassing government purchases?
According to the data from the cash flow statement of the center of Gamaleya, in 2020 receipts from investment operations amounted to more than 12.274 billion rubles against 90.8 million rubles a year earlier, of which 12.258 billion rubles from the sale of drugs and products used in medical purposes 83.8 million rubles in 2019.
It will not be superfluous to recall that, in addition to the center of Gamaleya, six other legal entities are officially the manufacturers of Sputnik V: JSC Binnopharm (Zelenograd), JSC Generium (Vladimir Region), JSC R-Pharm (Yaroslavl Region), CJSC Biocad (St. Petersburg), CJSC Pharmaceutical Firm LEKKO (Vladimir Region), OJSC Pharmstandard-Ufa Vitamin Plant (Bashkiria). At the same time, at least three of them are interconnected and lead to a large businessman, a figure in the Forbes list - Viktor Kharitonin (founder of the Pharmstandard holding).
In open data, the main shareholder of Pharmstandard is the Cypriot company AUGMENT INVESTMENTS LIMITED. Kharitonin is called her beneficiary.
Oligarch Kharitonin is linked by open sources with the ex-Minister of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation, the former Deputy Minister of Finance of the Russian Federation, the ex-Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation Viktor Khristenko, the spouse of the Deputy Prime Minister of Russia Tatyana Golikova, who is the head of the headquarters for the control of the new coronavirus infection in the Russian Federation.
For example, the former deputy of Khristenko for the Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation, Andrey Reus, together with Kharitonin, is a member of the OTCPharm board of directors from the Pharmstandard division. And Reus, Golikova and Khristenko, along with a number of other persons, are the founders of the Foundation for the Revival of the Staritsky Holy Dormition Monastery.
Golikova's stepson, Vladimir Khristenko, is also the founder and president of the Nanolek pharmaceutical company, which plans to produce the second vaccine, KoviVac. The owner of Nanolek LLC is the Cypriot company NANOLEK HOLDING LIMITED, among the ultimate controlling persons of which at the end of December 2020, the already known to us Andrei Reus was named.
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Business issues are not as important as the main one: from whom is the vaccine purchased in rubles and foreign currency? From whom to look for answers - from Kharitonin and Golikova?
(Source: REGNUM)
LOL at the “Sputnik V is safe!” people. Where does this weird vaccine even come from?
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Is there an ingredients list for Sputnik V? Last I checked, Comirnaty had some "secret ingredients" that were redacted by the FDA: https://leadstories.com/Screen%20Shot%202021-09-22%20at%2012.08.28%20PM.png