"We have made a decision [on the matter]. We will start going through the official procedures soon. [...] We are now awaiting the final results, the response from the South African government," he said.

"Since the beginning of the registration of the Sputnik V vaccine, we have observed a targeted campaign to undermine confidence in the achievements of Russian scientists, in total, we have recorded more than 300 information attacks on vaccines of the Sputnik family," Kirill Dmitriev, head of the RDIF, said.

"Successful results of the Sputnik vaccine on foreign markets that demonstrated its safety and efficiency as one of the best vaccines, as well as the publication of these results and other studies in the world's leading scientific journals, played a key role in the RDIF successfully countering the information attacks on the Russian vaccine," Dmitriev added.

"This is a disgrace. It’s like 'No Jews and dogs allowed.'… What’s next? Will they want us to come to the Paris Olympics in disguise so they don’t know there are competitors from Israel?" a source in the Israeli arms industry was cited by Ynet News as saying.

🇸🇦 Saudi Arabia: "The Kingdom’s significant economic ties with Russia… may have influenced its decision to avoid jeopardizing these relationships," Ahmed Al Ibrahim, a Riyadh-based political analyst, explained. "Saudi Arabia might prefer to focus on regional stability and its strategic interests rather than getting entangled in a European conflict."

🇮🇳 India: “The importance of President Putin's proposals lies in the fact that globally it will be known that Russia alone is [seeking] peace," whereas "the US-led collective West is preparing for an escalation in the proxy war against Russia," Dr. Anuradha Chenoy, a retired professor at Jawaharlal Nehru University, told Sputnik.

"The relations of friendship and neighbourliness between Russia and the DPRK, based on the principles of equality, mutual respect and trust, go back more than seven decades and are rich in glorious historical traditions";

The Russian Federation will "support the DPRK and the heroic Korean people in their struggle against the treacherous, dangerous and aggressive enemy, in their fight for independence, identity";

Russia and the North Korea "will develop alternative trade and mutual settlements mechanisms not controlled by the West, jointly oppose illegitimate unilateral restrictions";