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“I understand the concern of the Minister and the Government of Ukraine that insufficient quantities of vaccines are coming to the country, so I have offered to provide assistance to Ukraine as soon as Lithuania has the opportunity and is ready to share vaccines,” Landsbergis told a news conference on Tuesday.
He said this after a meeting with Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba in Kiev.
The Lithuanian head of diplomacy said it was too early to say when Lithuania would have a surplus of vaccines and could share it with Ukraine, but stressed that it was important to show a “political objective”.
According to G. Landsbergis, support from Lithuania will not satisfy even a small part of Ukraine’s total needs, but support from other European Union countries can.
“We can ask the friends of Europe to join us when they are ready to help our neighbors,” he said.
Later on Tuesday, the minister told US television CNN that sharing vaccines with the Eastern Partnership countries is also important because many people come to Lithuania to work.
“We will not be safe until everyone is safe. We have many contacts with people from Belarus and Ukraine who come to work in Lithuania. And if they don’t get vaccinated, we won’t be able to open (borders – BNS), “Landsberg said in an interview with CNN.
Among other things, he said he valued vaccines as a political tool that Russian President Vladimir Putin was seeking to use when proposing the Sputnik V vaccine.
“He is using that to bring the country closer to Russia. Therefore, the EU and the US must be close to those countries that are our neighbors, democracies, the rule of law. They are waiting for Western countries, which they could provide this much-needed tool during a pandemic, “said the minister.
After several delays, Ukraine finally received its first batch of COVID-19 vaccines on Tuesday.
40 million the country with a population is among the poorest in Europe and one of the last in the region to launch a vaccination program.
A plane with 500 thousand people landed at the Kiev Boryspil airport. AstraZeneca is the world’s largest vaccine manufacturer of vaccine doses produced by the Indian Serum Institute.
Ukraine is also expecting 8 million. vaccine doses promised under the COVAX program of the World Health Organization (WHO).
Kiev has said it has also secured 17 million. Novavax and AstraZeneca vaccine doses, including 500,000 doses delivered Tuesday.
Ukraine has also signed a contract for 1.9 million. doses of the Chinese Sinovac vaccine.
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