Previously, Bolivia had received 45,000 doses of the vaccine developed by Russia. | Photo: Bolivian Information Agency

La Paz, April 20 (RHC)-- Bolivia's Deputy Minister of Foreign Trade, Benjamín Blanco, reported that Russian President Vladimir Putin had a telephone conversation with his Bolivian counterpart, Luis Arce, and announced that Moscow will supply until next June the 5,200,000 doses of Sputnik V vaccine contracted by the South American nation to immunize its population against the SARS-CoV-2 virus.

According to Blanco, a Boliviana de Aviación plane will arrive on Tuesday morning to the South American nation with a batch of 200,000 doses -- and before the end of April, another one will arrive with a similar amount, also on a flight of the Bolivian flag carrier.

The official specified that, according to the dialogue between the two heads of state, the vaccines will continue to arrive in batches until June, when the total of 5,200,000 doses will be delivered.

In December 2020, Bolivia contracted Russia for the acquisition of that quantity of doses.  Based on the agreement, the Bolivian authorities had announced that batches of 1,700,000 doses of Sputnik V would arrive in March, April and May, but so far only 45,000 have arrived.

The information on the regularization of the shipments was later ratified by President Luis Arce, in a message disseminated through the social network Twitter.   The Bolivian president also tweeted that "the Joint Commission for Commercial Economic Cooperation was reactivated for the benefit of our peoples."

The Bolivian Deputy Minister of Foreign Trade announced that both leaders addressed other issues, such as energy, lithium and Gazprom, and agreed to maintain contacts at various levels.