JRL NEWSWATCH: “Angela Merkel mulls Russian answer to EU coronavirus vaccine bottleneck” – The Times (UK)/ Oliver Moody
“… Merkel and … Putin have discussed the possibility of making a controversial Russian vaccine in the EU as bottlenecks in supply slow down [some] [European] inoculation [efforts] …. but only [after] … Sputnik V … [is] authorised by the EU medicines regulator. … [which] could take several months … [I]t is thought … the vaccine has yet to be submitted for approval. …
[German-Russian relations have] been distinctly frosty since the murder of a former Chechen insurgent in Berlin and an attempt to assassinate [Russian opposition leader] Alexei Navalny … with … neurotoxin novichok. … Navalny[,] … treated in Berlin[,] … is now recovering at a secret location in Germany. …”