Putin says he was jabbed with Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine

President endorses domestic vaccine campaign but distances himself from tough measure

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Vladimir Putin has for the first time said that he was inoculated with Russia's own Sputnik V vaccine as he gave a careful endorsement of the country's floundering campaign while distancing himself from tough new measures designed to pressure more Russians into taking the jabs.

Putin has cut a mercurial figure during the pandemic, intrepidly donning a medical suit to visit a coronavirus hospital last March and then shunning public events for months, prompting ridicule that he was sheltering in a bunker".