President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Russian President Vladimir Putin have agreed to strengthen cooperation in the fight against COIVD-19, with the latter stressing that Sputnik V vaccines may be supplied to Turkey this month, Eurasia Diary reports citing Hurriyet Daily.
“The two presidents had an in-depth discussion on countering the spread of the coronavirus infection, including with consideration to the current epidemiological situation in Turkey. It was noted that Russia was ready to strengthen practical cooperation in this area, in particular, to promptly organize, starting already this month, supplies of the Russian Sputnik V vaccine. Work to examine a potential joint production of the vaccine at Turkish enterprises is also underway,” read a statement issued by Kremlin late May 5 after the phone conversation between the two leaders.
Turkey has requested 50 million doses of Sputnik V vaccines after the Russian jab was approved by relevant Turkish authorities.
Kremlin informed that Erdoğan thanked Putin for Russia’s assistance. “Both presidents believe that the measures taken to fight the pandemic will make it possible to drastically improve the situation and resume bilateral ties in tourism,” it said.
Russia has temporarily banned the charter flights to Turkey until June 1 due to the increased number of new COVID-19 cases. Turkey is working on a plan to introduce safe tourism for Russian tourists who are crucial for the Turkish tourism sector.
Erdoğan, for his part, expressed his pleasure over the addition of vaccine production to the many fields of cooperation established by the two countries. Turkey and Russia are also pondering about co-producing the Sputnik V vaccines.