OREANDA-NEWS. The decision of the US authorities to impose sanctions on three Russian research institutes is considered “blatant” by the Russian Foreign Ministry. This was stated by the official representative of the agency, Maria Zakharova.

According to her, strong indignation is caused by the inclusion of the 48th Central Research Institute of the Russian Ministry of Defense, specialists of which have “worked tirelessly over the past few months to develop a Russian vaccine” against coronavirus infection of a new type, in the blacklist. “It is unclear how the American authorities will explain to their citizens this attempt to punish people who are working – successfully working – on a cure for a disease that has already killed more than 180 thousand US citizens,” Zakharova stated.

The spokeswoman for the Russian Foreign Ministry added that the actions of Washington can be explained by the desire to use sanctions in the interests of American pharmaceutical companies that are also developing vaccines against virus.