MOSCOW, April 14. /TASS/. A number of European countries, including the Balkans, express a great interest in the Russian Sputnik V vaccine, Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko said in an interview with TASS on Wednesday.
"San Marino, Balkan countries express a great interest [in the Sputnik V vaccine]. Some others indicated [an interest]. I wouldn’t want to name them now because meaningful talks on possible contracts have not started. Yet the number of countries is rather high," the senior diplomat noted.
He pointed out that already about 60 countries worldwide have expressed interest in the Russian vaccine: some states are receiving batches of the preparation, with others the Russian side is conducting talks on supplies and production. In the EU, many governments are awaiting the approval of the European Medicines Agency (EMA) while some countries made a decision to cooperate with Russia on the national level, taking advantage of flexibility of the Union’s regulations.
"Our position remains unchanged. We are ready to work with all interested parties. We are against politicizing the issues. We proceed from the premise that in order to cope with the pandemic, it is necessary to develop the highest international cooperation. We have no dual agenda," the diplomat emphasized.
According to him, Moscow openly indicates to all partners that technical capabilities of vaccine deliveries abroad above all are determined by internal vaccination needs in Russia. "Indeed, this is the essence of these contacts maintained by the Russian Direct Investment Fund and our other structures on the issues of cooperation on Sputnik V," the senior diplomat concluded.
The Russian Sputnik V vaccine has already been registered by regulators of about 60 countries with the total population surpassing 1.5 bln people. Over 30 countries have already launched mass inoculation with Sputnik V. The efficacy of the preparation at the level of 91.6% was confirmed by the data published in the leading medical journal The Lancet.