Putin Plans to Skip U.N. General Assembly After Sputnik V Vaccine Snub – By Paul D. Shinkman (US News) / Sept 20 2021
Though multiple political and health reasons will keep the Russian leader at home for this week’s high-profile gathering, Russian officials are outraged at what they consider Western bias.
Russian President Vladimir Putin is not scheduled to attend the high-profile U.N. General Assembly this week, an apparent boycott following the international body’s snub of Sputnik V as an acceptable coronavirus vaccine.
Multiple sources confirmed to U.S. News that Putin does not appear to have travel plans involving the New York summit this week, where attendees will have to show they have at least had one COVID-19 shot to be able to participate in indoor events. Russian state news service Tass on Monday confirmed Putin’s planned absence from a COVID-19 summit to take place on the sidelines. Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Moscow still had to determine if and how it would participate remotely.
But those who have followed the issue closely and how it has played out across Russia also point to the World Health Organization’s refusal to approve the Sputnik vaccine – the only vaccine available to most Russians – and New York City’s subsequent decision not to include it among the acceptable vaccines required of all U.N. attendees.
