Putin reveals he has had the Sputnik V vaccine 'with no ill-effects' and that the time will come when he names his preferred successor although 'it will be up to the people to decide'

President Vladimir Putin has told Russians to get vaccinated against COVID-19 amid a wave of cases, and said for the first time that he had received Russia's Sputnik V shot.

The Kremlin had previously said that Putin, 68, received a two-dose vaccine in March and April, but it gave no further details and did not release images of him getting it.

That lack of publicity came under the spotlight as officials concerned about slow uptake to coax or compel people to get the COVID-19 shots, which are readily available. 

It comes as President Putin told Russians on Wednesday that the time would come when he would name his possible successor in the Kremlin, but said the choice would ultimately lie with voters. 

President Vladimir Putin has told Russians to get vaccinated against COVID-19 amid a wave of cases, and said for the first time that he had received Russia's Sputnik V sho

Putin used his annual televised phone-in today to cast Russia's four vaccines as highly effective and safe, while taking a swipe at shots that are widely used in the West.

'As you can see, everything is in order, and thank God we don't have such tragic situations after vaccinations like AstraZeneca or Pfizer,' he said, adding that 23 million of Russia's more than 144 million population had been vaccinated.

Asked which shot he'd had, Putin said he had been asked not to reveal its name so as not to give the product a competitive advantage, but went on to say it was Sputnik V. Moscow has not approved any foreign vaccines.

'I thought that I needed to be protected for as long as possible. So I chose to be vaccinated with Sputnik V. The military is getting vaccinated with Sputnik V, and after all I'm the commander-in-chief,' he said.

'After the first shot, I didn't feel anything at all. About four hours later, there was some tenderness where I had the shot. I did the second at midday. At midnight, I measured my temperature. It was 37.2 . I went to sleep, woke up and my temperature was 36.6. That was it.

'I don't support mandatory vaccination, and I continue to hold this point of view,' Putin said.

Russia launched its inoculation programme in January with the aim of vaccinating 60% of the population by the autumn, but the Kremlin said this week low uptake meant it would fall short of that target.

President Putin told Russians on Wednesday that the time would come when he would name his possible successor in the Kremlin, but said the choice would ultimately lie with voters

This week, Moscow began offering the one-dose Sputnik Light shot to some of the millions of migrants, many from Central Asia, that work in the city. The 1,300 rouble ($18) cost of the vaccine will be charged to their employers.

'COVID is everywhere at the moment and I don't want to get infected, so I wanted to get vaccinated,' said Usanboi, a chef from Uzbekistan, as he queued for a shot.

Russia reported 669 coronavirus-related deaths nationwide on Wednesday, the highest official daily total since the pandemic began. It also confirmed 21,042 new cases in the previous 24 hours, including 5,823 in Moscow.

Officials have blamed the surge in cases on the Delta variant.

Putin, 68, has been in power as president or prime minister since the turn of the century. His current six-year term in the Kremlin is due to end in 2024 and his remarks are being closely parsed for clues as to whether he plans to extend his rule.

Russia changed its constitution last year at Putin's behest allowing him to run for two more six-year terms in the Kremlin, and potentially remain president until 2036.

The Kremlin is at a delicate political juncture with its relations with the West badly strained and its oil-dependent economy emerging from the pandemic with high inflation and a weak rouble, sensitive issues for voters.

Russia holds parliamentary elections in September that are seen as a dry-run for the 2024 presidential election. In the run-up, authorites have cracked down hard on the opposition and outlawed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny's network as 'extremist.'

'A time will come when, I hope, I can say that such and such a person is worthy in my opinion of leading such a wonderful country like Russia, our homeland,' Putin said.

The Russian leader was speaking during his annual question and answers session on state TV that the Kremlin uses for political messaging and to show he is in touch with regular Russians' day-to-day concerns.

'A signal. There will be a successor,' Alexei Chesnakov, a political analyst who used to work in the presidential administration, wrote on Telegram messenger.

Putin says he could have SUNK British HMS Defender and got away with it: President claims West knows ‘it couldn’t win a war’ as it emerges Russians also buzzed Dutch ship in Black Sea

By Chris Jewers for MailOnline and AP

Russian President Vladimir Putin has boasted he could have sunk Britain's HMS Defender last week and got away with it because the West would not risk going to war as 'they know they can't emerge as winners'.  

Speaking on Wednesday Putin also claimed that a U.S. reconnaissance aircraft was operating in sync with the HMS Defender last week when the ship sailed through the Black Sea in what he described as a 'provocation' to test Moscow's response.

His comments came the day after the Royal Netherlands Navy confirmed that its De Zeven Provincien class frigate HNLMS Evertsen, which has been sailing with HMS Defender, was harassed by Russian fighters on Thursday last week.  

Moscow said one of its warships fired warning shots and a warplane dropped bombs in the path of Britain's Defender on June 23 to force it from an area near Crimea that Moscow claims as its territorial waters. Britain insisted its ship wasn't fired upon and that it was sailing in Ukrainian waters.

Asked if the events with HMS Defender could have triggered World War III, Putin responded that the West wouldn't risk a full-scale conflict.

'Even if we sank that ship, it wouldn't put the world on the brink of World War III because those who do it know that they can't emerge as winners in that war, and it's very important,' Putin said during his annual live call-in show when Russians ask him questions.

The Dutch navy said the encounter involving their frigate and Russian fighter jets occurred last Thursday (June 24), the day after Russia claimed to have dropped the bombs to deter Britain's HMS Defender.

'The planes repeatedly harassed the Evertsen between about 3.30pm and 8.30pm local time,' the Royal Netherlands Navy said in a statement. 

'They flew dangerously low and close by, performing feint attacks. The fighters were armed with bombs and so-called air-to-surface missiles, intended to fire at a target from the air. After hours of intimidation, disruptions to electronic equipment of the Evertsen also took place.'

Both ships are currently part of the British aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth’s multinational strike group, which is also known as Carrier Strike Group 21, or CSG21. Like the UK and the US, the Netherlands is a NATO member.

Among the Evertsen's weaponry is a 40-cell Mk.41 vertical launch missile system, 32 surface-to-air missiles, 32 Evolved Sea Sparrow Missile, 8 Harpoon anti-ship missiles and 2 twin MK32 Mod 9 torpedo launchers with Raytheon MK46 Mod 5 torpedoes, a 127mm dual-purpose gun, Browning M2 12.7mm machine guns, 7.62mm machine guns. 

Putin claimed that the US aircraft's apparent mission was to monitor the Russian military's response to the British destroyer.

'It was clearly a provocation, a complex one involving not only the British but also the Americans,' he said, adding that Moscow was aware of the U.S. intentions and responded accordingly to avoid revealing sensitive data. 

The Russian leader lamented that the move closely followed his summit with U.S. President Joe Biden in Geneva earlier this month. 'Why would they make such provocations?' he said. 

Putin insisted on Wednesday that Russia would firmly defend its territory.

'We are fighting for ourselves and our future on our own territory,' he said. 'It's not us who traveled thousands of kilometres to come to them, it's them who have come to our borders and violated our territorial waters.' 

In response, Prime Minister Boris Johnson's spokesman said on Wednesday that the Defender acted in accordance with international law and was conducting innocent passage through Ukrainian territorial waters. 

The spokesman said: 'I've said all along this Royal Navy ship was conducting innocent passage through Ukrainian territorial waters in accordance with international law.'  

Putin said that even if Russia had sunk Britain's HMS Defender (pictured off the coast of Georgia on June 26, three days after the Black Sea crisis) the West wouldn't risk going to war because 'they know they can't emerge as winners'

Moscow said one of its warships fired warning shots and a warplane dropped bombs in the path of Britain's Defender on June 23 to force it from an area near Crimea that Moscow claims as its territorial waters. Britain insisted its ship wasn't fired upon and said it was sailing in Ukrainian waters. Pictured: A map showing details of the Black Sea crisis

The De Zeven Provincien class frigate HNLMS Evertsen, which the Dutch navy said was harassed by Russian fighters last week. In a statement, the Royal Netherlands Navy said the jets 'flew dangerously low and close by, performing feint attacks'

The episode was the latest to raise tensions between Russia and the West since Russia's annexation of Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula in 2014, a move not recognized by most countries but one that gives it access to a long Black Sea coast.

The US Defense Department had no immediate comment Wednesday on Putin's claim that one of its aircraft was with the British ship last week.  

Russian President Vladimir Putin has goaded Britain again over its HMS Defender warship. Pictured: Putin delivers a speech during a Moscow meeting with the country's Olympic athletes ahead of the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games

Russian officials have warned that if a Western warship enters the waters again, the military could fire to hit. Since it annexed Crimea, Russia has chafed at NATO warships visiting the area as destabilizing.

Britain has insisted the Defender was making a routine journey through an internationally recognized travel lane and remained in Ukrainian waters. The U.K., like most of the world, recognizes Crimea as part of Ukraine despite the peninsula's annexation by Russia. 

Pictured: British Prime Minister Boris Johnson outside 10 Downing Street on Wednesday. His spokesman said on Wednesday that the warship acted in accordance with international law

On the same day, US Navy's Arleigh Burke class destroyer USS Ross (DDG-71) was shown on ship tracking services as sailing with a Ukrainian patrol boat just five miles off the coast of the contested Crimean Peninsula in the middle of the night.

The US Navy denied that the ship was every near Crimea, and it is believed it could be an instance of deliberate spoofing of maritime tracking data. 

Putin on Wednesday emphasized that Moscow is concerned about NATO troops coming to Ukraine for training, reaffirming that a permanent Western military presence on the Ukrainian territory would challenge Russia's vital interests and represent a red line.

He also reiterated, as he often does, that there is a close kinship between the Russian and Ukrainian peoples, but accused the Ukrainian leadership of being hostile towards Russia. Putin expressed doubt about the value of a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, describing him as a Western pawn.

'Why meet Zelenskyy if he has put his country under full foreign control and key issues for Ukraine are decided not in Kyiv but in Washington, and, to a certain extent, Paris and Berlin?' Putin asked.

Earlier this year, Russia beefed up its forces near Ukraine and warned Kyiv that it could intervene if they tried to use force to reclaim the areas in the east controlled by Russia-backed separatists since conflict there erupted in 2014. Moscow later pulled back some of its troops, but the Ukrainian authorities said that the bulk of them have remained close to the border.

The Type-45 destroyer was involved in an international incident after using an international shipping lane that went close to the Ukrainian peninsula, which is illegally occupied and claimed by Russia

In a video released by Putin's regime, three shots each with two shells are seen fired as warning shots, by which time HMS Defender is visible but at a long distance away

Last week, a top-secret Ministry of Defence dossier containing 50 pages of classified information about the Russian threat to HMS Defender ahead of its provocative trip and British military plans for Afghanistan was found by a member of the public at a bus stop in Kent. 

The dossier, which included emails and PowerPoint presentations, originated from the office of a senior official at the MoD and were passed to the BBC by a member of the public after they made the discovery early on Tuesday (June 22) morning - a day before the Black Sea crisis.

One document showed that the Royal Navy's Type-45 destroyer was ordered to sail close to disputed territorial waters off the coast of Russia-annexed Crimea in eastern European to make a show of support for Ukraine in the expectation that Moscow could respond with force.  

On June 23 more than 20 Su-24s and two coastguard ships shadowed the warship as it sailed about 12 miles off the coast. 

The Russian Ministry of Defence said a patrol ship fired warning shots and a jet dropped bombs in the destroyer's path, but the UK Government rejected this account and denied that any warning shots had been fired.

Another document contained in the dossier found at the bus stop in Kent reportedly details plans for a possible British military presence in Afghanistan after the US-led NATO operation there ends - but admits that there will be a possible loss of British life.

 

Pictured: Pictures purportedly showing HMS Defender being intercepted by the Russian border services in the Black Sea, provided by the Russian Ministry of Defence

The Government launched an urgent probe into the matter, with an MoD spokesman telling MailOnline last week that an employee had reported the loss of sensitive defence papers.

In a statement, the MoD also insisted that HMS Defender conducted 'innocent passage through Ukrainian territorial waters in accordance with international law'. 

A spokesman said: 'The Ministry of Defence was informed last week of an incident in which sensitive defence papers were recovered by a member of the public. The department takes the security of information extremely seriously and an investigation has been launched. The employee concerned reported the loss at the time. It would be inappropriate to comment further. 

'As the public would expect, the Ministry of Defence plans carefully. As a matter of routine, that includes analysing all the potential factors affecting operational decisions. HMS Defender conducted innocent passage through Ukrainian territorial waters in accordance with international law.'  

The document supports claims that the Black Sea passage was an attempt to rile the Russian government, which used  live ammunition to deter a NATO warship for the first time since the Cold War.

It reflects the growing risk of military incidents amid soaring tensions between Moscow and the West on issues from Russian aggression towards Ukraine, her involvement in the war in Syria and the use of chemical weapons in Salisbury in 2018 to allegations of cyberwar and election hacking. 

What is in the top secret MoD dossier found in the rain in a Kent bus stop? 

Officials knew Russia was likely to respond with aggression to Black Sea voyage

A mission described by the MoD as an 'innocent passage through Ukrainian territorial waters' was a calculated decision by the Government to make a show of support for Ukraine, and was conducted in the expectation that Russia might respond aggressively.

The Crimea mission, dubbed 'Op Ditroite', was the subject of high-level discussions as late as June 22, with officials speculating about Moscow's reaction if HMS Defender sailed close to the peninsula. 

An official at Permanent Joint Headquarters, the UK's tri-service headquarters at Northwood, reportedly asked: 'What do we understand about the possible 'welcome party'…?'.

Recent interactions in the eastern Mediterranean between Russian forces and a Carrier Strike Group led by HMS Queen Elizabeth had been unremarkable and 'in line with expectations', the document reportedly said. However, officials knew this was about to change and expected Russian naval and airforce interactions would become 'more frequent and assertive'.

A series of slides prepared at PJHQ reportedly shows two routeing options, one described as 'a safe and professional direct transit from Odessa to Batumi', including a short stretch through a 'Traffic Separation Scheme' close to the south-west tip of Crimea.

One slide concluded that this route would 'provide an opportunity to engage with the Ukrainian government… in what the UK recognises as Ukrainian territorial waters.'

Three potential Russian responses were outlined, from 'safe and professional' to 'neither safe nor professional'. In the event, Russia responded aggressively, with radio warnings, coastguard vessels closing to within 100 metres and repeated buzzing by warplanes.

An alternative route was considered, which would have kept HMS Defender well away from contested waters. The presentation notes that this would have avoided confrontation, but ran the risk of being portrayed by Russia as evidence of 'the UK being scared/running away'.

Officials feared that such a move would have been a boon to the Russian government, whose annexation and occupation of the Crimean peninsula is not recognised by Britain. 

The MoD also anticipated competing versions of events, noting 'we have a strong, legitimate narrative' and adding that the presence of journalists from the Daily Mail and the BBC 'provides an option for independent verification of HMS Defender's action'. 

British military presence in Afghanistan could be continued - but would lead to loss of life

Another document contained in the dossier found at the bus stop in Kent reportedly details plans for a possible British military presence in Afghanistan after the US-led NATO operation there ends - but admits that there will be a possible loss of British life.

The document, addressed to Defence Secretary Ben Wallace's private secretary and marked 'Secret UK Eyes Only', reportedly discusses a US request for British assistance in several specific areas, and addresses the question of whether any Special Forces will remain in Afghanistan post-withdrawal. 

Amid reports of a worsening security situation in the country, the document warns: 'Any UK footprint in Afghanistan that persists... is assessed to be vulnerable to targeting by a complex network of actors' - adding that 'the option to withdraw completely remains.'

The document warns that Afghanistan is already becoming more dangerous and that the reduced presence of NATO troops 'is already impairing the situational awareness that we (and the US) used to enjoy across the country'.

Though Britons have been killed in Afghanistan since the US-Taliban deal in February 2020, the document grimly warns that 'this would be unlikely to remain the status quo'.

Other - Biden's policy on China and arms export competition with European allies

The dossier also includes updates on President Joe Biden's early focus on China and the Indo-Pacific, which they say shows 'much continuity from the previous administration'.

It also includes updates on arms exports campaigns, including areas where Britain might find itself competing with European allies. 

The BBC reports that  'SofS' (Mr Wallace) insists that the six-member European Organisation for Joint Armament Cooperation, of which Britain is a member, 'must not be hijacked' by 'entryism' from the European Commission.