OREANDA-NEWS. The European Medicines Agency has begun preliminary discussions with the manufacturer of Sputnik V, the Russian vaccine against coronavirus. This was announced on November 25 to TASS news agency by the official representative of the European Commission, Stefan De Keersmaecker.

The European Medicines Agency has not yet received a request for certification of the Russian drug. However, the agency has been contacted by the vaccine manufacturer, they are now at an early stage of discussing the vaccine, De Keersmaecker said. The European Commission has no information about Sputnik V.

On Tuesday, the head of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, admitted for the first time that in addition to the already concluded contracts for the pre-order of vaccines with six Western pharmaceutical companies, the Commission is conducting similar negotiations with seventh enterprise. Neither the head of the European Commission, nor its press service clarified which company they are talking about. Earlier, the European Commission has repeatedly stated that the Russian vaccine will not be part of the EU vaccination strategy.