MOSCOW (TASS) — The negotiations on supplying the Russian Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine are continuing despite the recent quotes of the national Health Ministry saying that Turkey rejected plans to purchase the Russian vaccine, which are deemed as fake, a source in the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) told TASS.

“The talks with Turkey are ongoing. The cited quotes [of the Turkish Health Ministry] are fake news”, the source underlined.

Earlier, Haberturk newspaper cited a statement by Turkish Health Minister Fahrettin Koca to report that Ankara decided to forego the Russian Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine purchase. At the same time, on November 25, Koca said that toxicological trials of the Russian vaccine would be launched in the country soon. On November 27, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan informed that Ankara continues talks with Moscow on importing the coronavirus vaccine.

(© Sergei Karpukhin / TASS)

More than 50 countries have sent applications to purchase more than 1.2 bln Sputnik V doses. The vaccine will be supplied to foreign markets by international partners of the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) in India, Brazil, China, South Korea and others.

On August 11, Russia became the first country in the world to register a coronavirus vaccine named Sputnik V, which was developed by the Gamaleya Research Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology of the Russian Health Ministry. The injection passed clinical trials in June-July. The post-registration trials of Sputnik V began in Moscow on September 7, volunteers received the first vaccine already on September 9. Overall, the trials include 40,000 people, 10,000 of them had placebo instead of the vaccine.

The Sputnik V efficiency is claimed to exeed 95% after the 42^nd day following the first vaccination (or 21 days after the second jab), when volunteers had a sustainable immune response.