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Coronavirus pandemic

West seeks to delay approval of Russian COVID-19 vaccines for political reasons — Lavrov

The Russian foreign minister emphasized that the European Commission signed contracts to purchase Western vaccines before they had even been registered. "As for the Sputnik V vaccine, the European Commission has no plans to do anything until it is approved by the World Health Organization," he noted

KALININGRAD, August 17. /TASS/. The West seeks to delay the approval of Russian coronavirus vaccines for political reasons, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said, addressing students and professors at the Immanuel Kant Baltic Federal University on Tuesday.

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FACTBOX: How countries approved Sputnik V anti-coronavirus vaccine

"There is certainly a political aspect to the issue," he pointed out. The top diplomat explained that Russia and China were facing groundless accusations of sparking a vaccine war, and Moscow was also being blamed for allegedly boosting vaccine hesitancy in Europe. "Hundreds of thousands of people are protesting against restrictions but some still need to put the blame on Russia," the Russian foreign minister noted. According to him, the same goes for allegations of Moscow’s seditious activities against Western vaccines.

When speaking about the approval of coronavirus medications, Lavrov emphasized that the European Commission signed contracts to purchase Western vaccines before they had even been registered. "As for the Sputnik V vaccine, the European Commission has no plans to do anything until it is approved by the World Health Organization," Lavrov added.

He also said that Russia and the European Union maintained dialogue on the mutual recognition of vaccination certificates, and there were some issues that "need to be resolved." "Unfortunately, our Western colleagues aren’t ready to cooperate in full," the Russian top diplomat said.

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Sergey Lavrov Russian Foreign Ministry

Middle East conflict

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