While Bangladesh’s health ministry was in touch with its counterpart in Russia, Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen discussed the issue with the outgoing Russian Ambassador Alexander I Ignatov.

The foreign minister sought cooperation from the outgoing ambassador so that Bangladesh could procure vaccines from Russia quickly, Dhaka Tribune reported.

Bangladesh companies are also keen for approval to co-produce the vaccine with Russia.

Sputnik V ranks second among coronavirus vaccines globally in terms of the number of approvals issued by government regulators.

The Russian ambassador is scheduled to leave Dhaka on June 8 as he wrapped up his tenure in Dhaka.

Earlier, Bangladesh Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal said 68 million doses of coronavirus vaccine will be available from the Covax facility under the World Health Organization (WHO) for 20 percent of its population, that is, for 34 million people.

Out of this, 106,000 doses have already been received.