Nicaragua In Talks With Russia On Sputnik V Vaccine Supplies - Trade Representative

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 19th January, 2021) Nicaragua has started discussing technical aspects of supplying the Russian Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine to the country, Russian Trade Representative in Nicaragua Petr Pankratov told Sputnik.

"At the moment, the Nicaraguan authorities are holding talks with the Russian side on purchasing the Sputnik V vaccine. The necessary Primary bilateral documents have already been signed, this stage has been passed, and other issues are being discussed now," Pankratov said.

According to the trade representative, the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) is examining ways of possible cooperation with Nicaragua and the Russian embassy is actively promoting information exchanges on the matter.

Pankratov told Sputnik that the Nicaraguan government is mulling a large-scale vaccination campaign, but he did not specify the exact volume of planned Sputnik V vaccine supplies.

Nicaragua's Vice President Rosario Murillo said last week that the country had received funds necessary to purchase 7.4 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines, which would be enough to immunize 3,727,000 citizens, or 55% of Nicaragua's population.

According to the vice president, Nicaragua was planning to acquire 7.4 million doses of four different COVID-19 vaccines (Sputnik V, Moderna, AstraZeneca and Bharat Biotech) worth up to $90 million.