MOSCOW, December 13. /TASS/. The issuance of certificates to those who were inoculated against the coronavirus with foreign vaccines takes into account the presence of antibodies to COVID-19 and does not constitute the recognition of foreign vaccines. At the same time, work on the mutual recognition of inoculation with other countries is underway, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists.

"This is rather the recognition of the presence of antibodies and not the recognition of Western vaccines. Although work in this direction also continues," he explained.

The Kremlin representative said this in response to questions as to whether Moscow had guarantees that other countries will make similar decisions with regards to those inoculated with Russian vaccines.

"This absolutely does not mean that similar decisions will be made in Western countries. Work on the mutual recognition of vaccination continues and we hope that with time there will be a positive result," he explained.

Putin’s press secretary noted that in the West the level of immunity to COVID is "usually not measured." "It is us who have a more advanced system of diagnostics. And in the West, they think that either there are these antibodies or there aren’t," he said.

Earlier, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Tatyana Golikova said that those who had the coronavirus infection but did not seek medical aid can get tested for antibodies and obtain certificates if they were sick after January 1, 2021. Additionally, those Russian residents, who got inoculated with foreign vaccines against coronavirus, can obtain a vaccination certificate for 6 months following the test for the presence of antibodies.