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September 15, 2021

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Kremlin COVID scare, Putin isolates

Source: Agencies | 00:05 UTC+8 September 15, 2021 | Print Edition

RUSSIAN President Vladimir Putin said yesterday he was self-isolating after several members of his entourage fell ill with COVID-19, including someone he worked with in close proximity and had been in close contact with all of the previous day.

Putin, who has had two shots of Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine, explained the situation to a government meeting by video conference after the Kremlin said he was “absolutely” healthy and did not have the disease himself.

“It’s a natural experiment. Let’s see how Sputnik V works in practice,” Putin said. “I have quite high levels of antibodies. Let’s see how that plays out in real life. I hope everything will be as it should be.”

Putin, 68, said the circumstances had forced him to cancel a planned trip to Tajikistan this week for regional security meetings expected to focus on Afghanistan, but that he would take part by video conference instead.

The Kremlin said Putin took the decision to self-isolate after completing a busy round of meetings on Monday, which included face-to-face Kremlin talks with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

Putin also met Russian Paralympians and traveled to western Russia on Monday to observe joint military drills with Belarus. He said yesterday the colleague he worked with in close proximity — one of several entourage members who had fallen ill with COVID-19 — had been vaccinated but that his antibody count had later fallen and that the individual had fallen ill three days after being revaccinated.

“Judging by everything, that was a little late (to get revaccinated),” Putin said.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Putin’s work rate would not be affected.

“It’s just that in-person meetings will not take place for a while. But that does not affect their frequency and the president will continue his activity via video conferences.”

Later yesterday, Putin was due to meet with the leadership of the ruling United Russia party ahead of parliamentary polls on September 17-19. Peskov did not specify how long the president will be self-isolating for and declined to say who in Putin’s entourage had tested positive.

Alexander Gintsburg, director of the Gamaleya Institute which developed the Sputnik V vaccine, was quoted by the Interfax news agency as saying that Putin would need to self-isolate for one week.

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