142,000 DOSES OF RUSSIAN VACCINE "SPUTNIK V" DELIVERED TO MOLDOVA AS HUMANITARIAN AID

As many as 142 thousand doses of the Russian Sputnik V vaccine were delivered to Moldova as humanitarian aid. The cargo was delivered on Saturday by the plane of the Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations. It was greeted by Parliament Speaker Zinaida Greceanii, Russian Ambassador to the Republic of Moldova Oleg Vasnetsov, as well as representatives of the Ministry of Health, Labor and Social Protection.

The humanitarian aid was accompanied by State Duma deputies Viktor Seliverstov and Artem Turov, as well as the chairman of the Party of Socialists Igor Dodon. Russian deputies on Saturday went to Tiraspol, where 62 thousand doses of the vaccines received were delivered.

“I am very glad that today the vaccine, which I consider to be the best in the world, has arrived in Moldova. There have been many attempts to prevent this. The presidential administration tried to prevent the vaccine from being registered. Until yesterday, there were attempts to block the signing of a supply contract,” Dodon stated.

He stressed that “this consignment was delivered as a humanitarian aid, Moldova did not pay either for the vaccine or for its delivery to the country on the plane of the Ministry of Emergency Situations. Another 40 thousand doses of the vaccine will be delivered in the near future.”

Dodon also noted that “in mid-May Moldova will begin negotiations on the purchase of a million doses of the Sputnik V vaccine for the citizens of the republic.”

Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Maria Zakharova stressed on Sunday that “Russia will supply the next batch of Sputnik V vaccine to Moldova in May.”

In the commentary of the Russian Foreign Ministry on this matter, it is noted that “Russia is ready to continue to provide assistance to Moldova in the fight against the pandemic.”

“We are also determined to preserve and develop friendly Russian-Moldovan relations in the spirit of the principles laid down in the Treaty of Friendship and Cooperation of November 19, 2001, the twentieth anniversary of which we will celebrate this year,” Zakharova concluded.