"Thanks to this, a million Hungarians were able to be vaccinated with the Russian Sputnik vaccine," TASS quoted him as saying.

Szijjártó added that during the pandemic, Budapest decided to purchase vaccines from the East without waiting for them to come from the West.

The Hungarian minister noted the role of Murashko in organizing the supply of the Russian vaccine against coronavirus.

"We will not forget about this help," he said.

RDIF is a major investor in the development and production of the Sputnik V and Sputnik Light vaccines, the use of which has helped protect millions of lives. Sputnik V has been approved for use in 71 countries with a total population of more than 4 billion people, and Sputnik Light has been approved in more than 30 countries.