Last week Israel concluded a deal with Syria, via Russia, to return an Israeli woman who crossed the border to Syria earlier this month. In exchange, Israel returned two Syrian shepherds who crossed into Israel this month and agreed on the early release of a Golan Heights woman who had been convicted of incitement. However, all the above was the less controversial part of the deal. It was later revealed by the media (and at first censored by Israel while officially denied by Syria) that Russia received more than US $1 million from Israel to finance the delivery of Russian COVID-19 vaccines to Syria.
Russia's vaccine, Sputnik V, bears symbolic, political and economic significance. As a result of the prestige of having been the first COVID-19 vaccine to be approved in the world, the economic gains involved and for other reasons, Sputnik V is providing new global leverage for Russia in a world desperate for solutions to the pandemic. This is particularly significant because Russia's current economic condition does not allow Moscow to throw money around easily. Therefore, Russia often uses what is known as "technical-military cooperation," that is, selling defense products or providing other military assistance such as advisers to increase its international presence. The vaccine provides meaningful soft power leverage that is perceived far more favorably by the international community than military outreach. While Russia's military cooperation is mostly restricted to non-Western countries, the vaccine is gradually attracting the interest of leading Western countries such as Germany (Germany's use of Sputnik V, however, depends on the vaccine’s approval by the relevant European regulatory authority).
