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Coronavirus pandemic

Kremlin says too early to discuss introduction of vaccination passports in Russia

The Kremlin spokesman assured that Moscow would closely monitor the extent to which EU vaccination passports would concern Russia

© Donat Sorokin/TASS

MOSCOW, February 26. /TASS/. Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov thinks it is too early to discuss the need to introduce vaccination passports in Russia.

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About 4 million Russians vaccinated against coronavirus

"So far, it is too early to discuss that, but, of course, such an agreement and the general understanding in the EU is, of course, a very important aspect that we will analyze in the future," the spokesman told reporters on Friday, commenting on the statement of German Chancellor Angela Merkel, in which she said that the EU plans to introduce electronic vaccination certificates by the summer.

According to Peskov, so far, this is about "domestic EU processes," while in Europe itself, the details of the initiative are unclear. "If this project is finalized, if some documents are introduced and if movement is tied to these documents, then, of course, this will be a subject of our future contacts with Europe and a deep analysis," he stressed, adding that this matter is rather important. "There are no international agreements and it is unlikely that they are possible," the spokesman said.

Nevertheless, he assured that Moscow would closely monitor the extent to which EU vaccination passports would concern Russia.

On Thursday, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said during a press conference on the outcomes of the first online EU summit that the heads of EU states and governments are united in the opinion that electronic vaccination certificates should be established within the union by the summer. Merkel reminded that Germany had already decided to develop a national vaccination certificate.

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