SOCHI, September 10. /TASS/. Russia is ready for mutual recognition of coronavirus vaccines with the European Union, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Friday.

"Brussels made some halfhearted attempts, which later faded away, to speak about mutual recognition of vaccines. We are absolutely ready for it," he said, adding that most of Russia’s partners in Europe want Russia’s Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine to be registered in Europe as soon as possible.

"During contacts with most of our partners, I feel that they would prefer to see a positive outcome [concerning Sputnik V registration] as soon as possible. Those who wanted to do it at the national level have already done it. The door is open for all the rest," the minister said.

Russia was the world’s first to register a coronavirus vaccine, Sputnik V, on August 11, 2020, and applied for its registration in the European Union and with the World Health Organization (WHO). According to the authoritative medical journal The Lancet, Sputnik V’s efficacy is 91.6%. The European Medicines Agency (EMA) said on March 4 it had begun the Sputnik V evaluation procedures to look at its compliance with the EU efficacy, safety and quality standards.