In an unusual diplomatic move and within the same day, Russia and Serbia have each offered to vaccinate Albanians in the Balkans.
The Russian Embassy offered to publicly provide its vaccine to the citizens of Albania through a post on social networks, on Monday.
"We have no doubts that Russia is ready to bring its "Sputnik-V" vaccine to Albania as well. Vaccination with Sputnik-V has already begun in Russia and Argentina, while more than 50 countries have applied to buy 1.2 billion doses of the drug," the embassy said in a statement, A2CNN reports.
An unusual aspect of the post was that the unexpected offer was formulated on a "screenshot" photo of a Twitter post of the communication director of the Albanian Prime Minister, Endri Fuga.
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| Screenshot of the tweet of Russian Embassy while offering to vaccinate Albanians |
Fuga had retweeted a stance of Ursula von der Leyen, where the President of the European Commission announced happily the distribution of the vaccine to EU countries, and above it, Fuga wrote that the Western Balkans was left alone again, even in the coronavirus crisis.
The Prime Minister of Albania, Edi Rama, reacted harshly to the Russian offer a day later.
"I thought it was a meme because for a serious state it is inappropriate to make such provocations. When I say provocation I do not anticipate any demarche near the Russian state, because this is a ridiculous provocation and it is not good for Russia to become ridiculous, through these posts. I express my regret for this!” Said, Rama.
Hours before Russia's message, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said he was ready to provide vaccines to Kosovo Albanians, stressing that Serbia would continue to "take care of its people in Kosovo".