The decision was made when countries in the European Union (EU) faced supply shortages, making it difficult to vaccinate 450 million people on schedule.

Previously, Hungary and Slovakia bought Russian vaccines.

Meanwhile, the head of the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) Kirill Dmitriev revealed that an agreement was reached with companies from Italy, Spain, France and Germany to start producing the Sputnik V vaccine developed by the Institute.

According to Mr. Dmitriev, as long as the European Medicines Agency (EMA) approves, Sputnik V will be allowed to supply the European market.

Two vials of Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine.

However, negotiations with manufacturers often last many months before reaching a supply agreement.

For many months, the EU was skeptical about the safety and effectiveness of Sputnik V, considering the vaccine a propaganda and foreign policy tool for the Kremlin.

`Europe will not use vaccines for propaganda purposes,` he said.

However, Sputnik V’s position in the EU began to change when the company published peer-reviewed clinical trial data in the Lancet magazine on February 2, showing that the vaccine was 92% effective, higher than rival Pfizer.

Hungary became the first EU country to license Sputnik V for use. Slovakia announced that it had reached an agreement to buy 2 million doses of Sputnik V and had received the first 200,000 doses.

The next turning point occurred on February 25, when Mario Draghi attended the EU Summit as the new Prime Minister of Italy.

Italy is calling on foreign governments to consider Sputnik V. At a meeting of diplomats on March 10, Italian representatives urged the Union to expand vaccine supplies, including products from Russia.

However, some EU officials believe that Sputnik V may be distributed too late, because 1.3 billion doses of vaccines previously ordered from other companies will ramp up production later this year.

On March 4, EMA gave a general assessment of Sputnik V. This is the first step in the approval process.