MOSCOW, June 9. /TASS/. International cooperation on the research of COVID-19 origins should be expanded, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Wednesday, however, this situation should not be politicized, he added.
"I am confident that we need to continue these efforts, however, we must do it without politicization, because there are attempts to politicize the situation around COVID-19. This reflects the desire of a number of states to use unfair competition methods," he said during the Primakov Readings forum.
"We need to develop broad transparent international cooperation to continue studying the reasons behind the appearance [of the novel coronavirus]," Lavrov added.
International relations during pandemic
The coronavirus infection pandemic has become a test for true friendship between countries, the minister pointed. "Overall, of course, the coronavirus pandemic created an unprecedented challenge. It has become a test for true friendship," Lavrov said.
"A friend in need is a friend indeed, it’s well known. However, a number of countries decided against sharing their vaccines, and such approach is, probably, inappropriate, especially in the conditions of mutual dependence, globalization, but also from the standpoint of universal human morality and ethics," Lavrov continued.
In this regard, the minister pointed at the cooperation with India on combating the pandemic, and noted that Russia organized several rather large shipments of humanitarian medical aid to India.
"We hope that, by these steps and other joint efforts we would be able to cope with this severe disease and protect the health of our citizens as soon as possible," the minister noted.