BRUSSELS, February 11. /TASS/. The EU and Russia are both interested in the successful registration of the Russian COVID-19 vaccine Sputnik V in Europe, Russia’s Permanent Representative to the European Union Vladimir Chizhov told reporters on Thursday.
"It seems that no one can predict right now how long the registration will take, but the process has started. I think all sides are interested in seeing this through to the end," he said. The envoy reminded that the Russian Direct Investment Fund is in contact with the European Medicines Agency and is working on certifying the Russian vaccine in the EU.
"We have monitored with interest how the EU has been changing its stance on the Russian vaccine, which for several months, that is, practically since the moment it appeared, was seen with outright suspicion, if not even hostility. And now, all this has changed, and there are statements saying that Sputnik V is Russia’s biggest scientific achievement practically since the launch of the Sputnik, the first artificial satellite of the Earth, in 1957," he noted.
"I suppose it’s not just them seeing the benefits of our vaccine. They understood that alternative options, that is, vaccines developed by Western countries, which the European Commission signed half a dozen contracts for and paid 2.7 bln euros in advance without receiving an adequate supply volume in response, do not guarantee success," he said. "Thus, we confirmed our initial approach: in the conditions of a pandemic, we shouldn’t compete, we shouldn’t start a vaccine race, establishing wide international cooperation instead with the aim to overcome the pandemic, lead the joint, non-politicized and non-ideological fight against our common enemy, the coronavirus."