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The Russian Embassy in Guatemala issued two statements rejecting comments and a statement by President Alejandro Giammattei during his visit to Ukraine; While the president has not issued a position regarding these questions, he did not do so with the Sputnik V vaccines acquired from the Russian Investment Fund, despite consultations with his communication team.
For this acquisition, which has been questioned for opacity, the Government of Guatemala disbursed Q614.5 million, as part of 50% of the original contract that consisted of 16 million Sputnik V vaccines. However, due to the delay in deliveries, it generated higher internal criticism.
The Russian Foreign Ministry published its first statement through its institutional page on Facebook on July 26 and another on July 27, through which it expressed its disagreement with the content of the joint declaration between Guatemala and Ukraine, as well as the speech it offered Giammattei in kyiv, the Ukrainian capital.
#EditorialLH
It seems that we have so many resources that we can suspend or reduce our own investment in the construction of lasting works in Guatemala so as to offer enough money to repair the damage of the terrible war. https://t.co/eiTRqJRdnj– La Hora Newspaper (@lahoragt) July 29, 2022
RUSSIAN STATEMENTS
In the first statement, the diplomatic mission expressed its rejection of the “anti-Russian rhetoric” in the Ukrainian-Guatemalan Joint Declaration, above all because the Russian special military operation in Ukraine was described as an “illegal, unjustified and unprovoked war of aggression by Russia against Ukraine.
In the second publication, the Russian embassy spoke about Giammattei’s position, of whom he assures “what mattered to the President of Ukraine was to obtain a certain sample of some type of support from abroad, even if it was from a small state of Central America”.
In addition, he stressed that “the Guatemalan Head of State fulfilled in kyiv the agenda of his ties not so much with Ukraine, but with the United States.”
They also alluded to the tense relations between Giammattei and Washington in stating the Russian mission, “to quote only the same American experts, who indicated to President Giammattei that a visit to Ukraine is not enough to repair the ‘damage to Guatemalan democracy done for him”.
They also highlight that Russia and Guatemala are united by ties of friendship that have been built for years.
The plaque of recognition awarded to the judge had the following text: “for his outstanding track record and contribution to an independent justice”. 👇 https://t.co/OhnYOwkNy0
– La Hora Newspaper (@lahoragt) July 29, 2022
PRESIDENCY DOES NOT RESPONSE FOR RUSSIAN COMMUNICATIONS
Given the two Russian communiqués, La Hora consulted the Presidency’s Social Communication Secretariat (SCSP) as to whether they had any comments on the matter. Although the question was repeated for three days, no response was received.
Neither in the institutional social networks of the Government and on its website is there a response to the Russian Foreign Ministry.
It was also asked if they are going to rescind the second part of the purchase of the Sputnik V vaccine or how is the commitment they had with the Russian Investment Fund? although, no SCSP reaction was obtained either.
RUSSIAN VACCINES
During President Giammattei’s speech in Ukraine last Monday, July 25, he lambasted Russia for the invasion of that territory and spoke of war crimes, but to date he has not ruled on the Sputnik vaccine contract, this, after It will indicate that it would not buy more immunizers and that they were legally analyzing the suspension of the contract.
The president announced at a press conference on March 16 that Guatemala will not buy more Sputnik V vaccines from Russia and that they were considering suspending the contract to acquire another eight million doses, which was in the process of legal analysis.
SPUTNIK V VACCINES
La Hora has documented on different occasions that since the acquisition of the Sputnik V vaccines, the government of President Giammattei was harshly criticized due to the lack of transparency with which that process was carried out, according to some deputies and different social sectors.
In addition, before this purchase, the Government of Guatemala disbursed Q614.5 million for the acquisition of eight million vaccines; although, the original contract consisted of 16 million Sputnik V doses, but deliveries were delayed, until it was completed just last December.
VISIT DE GIAMMATTEI TO UCRANIA
Giammattei visited his counterpart in Ukraine Volodímir Zelenski on July 25, where after a joint meeting they offered a press conference to publicize the agreements reached. But it was not until hours later that they released the joint statement to which Russia refers in its statements.
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