MOSCOW, July 13. /TASS/. The Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) is open for joint research in India of the Sputnik V and Covishield vaccines developed by the British-Swedish company AstraZeneca, head of RDIF Kirill Dmitriev told a briefing on Tuesday.

"The developers of Sputnik V vaccine were the first to offer a joint research with AstraZeneca. These studies are now being completed in Azerbaijan and a number of other countries. We are still open to such open collaborative research with the Covishield vaccine in India. We believe the results can be tremendous," he said.

Dmitriev also said that joint studies of the Sputnik V and AstraZeneca combined vaccine are in their final stages and the first results will be published at the end of July. Earlier, the head of the RDIF reported that trials of the vaccine combining AstraZeneca and Sputnik V did not reveal the undesirable effects that were previously occasionally observed in the Oxford drug.

Export of the Sputnik V

Kirill Dmitriev also added that the RDIF was negotiating with the Indian authorities on the export of the Sputnik V vaccine produced in the country to other countries.

"We expect that some of the vaccines produced in India will be exported to more than 60 countries. We are currently in talks with the Indian government so that we can export the vaccine to other countries after the needs of the Indian population are covered," he said. Earlier it was reported that India is actively increasing its capacity for the production of the Russian Sputnik V vaccine.

The Sputnik V vaccine was approved in India on April 12 as part of the fast-track registration process.

The capacity of Indian manufacturers, in partnership with RDIF, will allow to produce more than 850 million doses of Sputnik V vaccine in India annually.

Vaccination of the country's population began in May.