OREANDA-NEWS. Since August 20, the European Union has recognized COVID-19 vaccination certificates issued in Ukraine, Turkey and North Macedonia. This is stated on the website of the European Commission.

The recognition of the certificates indicates that the certain countries will now be related to the EU system. From August 20, they will be received throughout the territory of the association.

The European Union recognized Ukrainian, Turkish and Macedonian vaccination certificates earlier than Russian ones: according to Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, Moscow and Brussels are still negotiating this issue. The diplomat noted that the discussion is going on through the Russian Ministry of Health and the Gamaleya Institute. “Certain technical and legal matters are being discussed, involving the necessity to guarantee the protection of personal data, to ensure technological compatibility of procedures,” the head of the department explained.

Lavrov stressed that Moscow is ready to continue a pragmatic and professional dialogue with the EU countries on the mutual recognition of "coronavirus certificates". In this regard, the Russian side hopes that the "protractions, which have a clear sign of politicization," will stop. We are talking about the recognition of the Russian vaccine "Sputnik V" by the European Medicines Agency (EMA) and the World Health Organization (WHO), which dragged on for several months. The Russian authorities believe this is due to the politicization of the vaccine issue. However, representatives of Western regulators and organizations claim that verification is complicated by a lack of data.