Russia security official visits Vietnam with vaccine gift

Secretary of the Russian Security Council Nikolai Patrushev has visited Vietnam with a batch of made-in-Russia Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine, which Moscow donated to Hanoi. 

Russia security official visits Vietnam with vaccine gift. Photo: VGP

Patrushev arrived in Hanoi on March 15 for the two-day bilateral security consultations and working with Vietnamese authorities led by Minister of Public Security To Lam. 

This is Patrushev’s first overseas trip in 2021. His previous visit to Vietnam took place in July 2017. 

During that visit, the two sides discussed measures for further cooperation in security, anti-terrorism, transborder crime, cybersecurity, protection of Vietnamese and Russian citizens in each country.

They signed a memorandum of understanding on cooperation between Vietnam’s Ministry of Public Security and the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation. 

The vaccine, ordered by Russian President Vladimir Putin, came with the secretary on an Il-96 plane, according to the Russian Security Council.

 Vietnamese Deputy Minister of Health Truong Quoc Cuong said in January that Vietnam was negotiating to import some vaccines, including Russia’s Sputnik V. 

Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine gives 91.6% protection against Covid-19, reported The Lancet, an independent, international weekly general medical journal founded in 1823.

The trial results show a consistent strong protective effect across all participant age groups, Denis Logunov and colleagues1 report their interim results from a phase 3 trial of the Sputnik V Covid-19 vaccine in The Lancet.

Vietnam is among few countries that have high trust in Russia’s vaccine against Covid-19, according to a survey conducted among more than 12,000 respondents in 11 countries by global public opinion and data company YouGov.

According to AFP, Head of the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) Kirill Dmitriev said in a statement that his organization has already reached agreements with companies from Italy, Spain, France and Germany to launch production of Sputnik V.