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Coronavirus pandemic

Austria’s talks with Russia on purchase of Sputnik V move into final stretch

At issue are 1 million doses of the preparation

© Kirill Kukhmar/TASS

VIENNA, March 31. /TASS/. Moscow and Vienna have entered into the final stretch of negotiations before Austria’s purchase of Russia’s Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine, Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz said before meeting with Russia’s Ambassador to Vienna Dmitry Lyubinsky on Wednesday.

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"Intensive talks are behind and they have gone well. We are in the ‘final meters’ in regard to the purchase of Sputnik V," Kurz told reporters.

The Austrian Federal Chancellor’s Office said on Wednesday that Kurz and Lyubinsky would hold a working meeting on possible purchases of the Russian vaccine.

On March 30, the Austrian Federal Chancellor’s Office said that Vienna was in talks with Moscow about the purchase of one million doses of Sputnik V to vaccinate 500,000 people, which might be delivered in three tranches - in April, May and June 2021.

Austria and Russia inked a non-disclosure agreement that binds Austria to keep information secret when exchanging confidential documents and providing access to the information about the vaccine by the two countries’ health ministries.

In early March, Sebastian Kurz held a meeting with Kirill Dmitriev, CEO of the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), which is in charge of Sputnik V international production and deliveries. Dmitriev and Kurz focused on the use of Sputnik V vaccine in Austria, Russian Ambassador Dmitry Lyubinsky said at that time. Austria is keen to purchase Sputnik V and cooperate in its production, Kurz said then.

Austria launched a vaccination campaign in December 2020, using the Pfizer, BioNTech, Moderna and AstraZeneca vaccines.

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