The Russian official said that the FDA director's comments and the UK's move show that the West has accepted that Russia is right to approve the vaccine early.

Earlier this month, Russia became the first country to license the Covid-19 vaccine after less than two months of human trials, prompting some Western experts to fear Russia "burns off phase", questioning safety.

However, the head of the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) later said he was willing to skip the usual approval process to license the Covid-19 vaccine, as long as officials believe the benefits are numerous.

The UK government also released a plan last week to allow the health regulator to temporarily license any potential Covid-19 vaccine before it receives an official license, if it meets the standards.

Kirill Dmitriev, head of the Russian Direct Investment Fund, which is heavily involved in the vaccine program, said today in Moscow that the US and UK are "studying under Russia".

"The West is shocked by Russia's success in producing potential vaccines and has to go through four stages to accept one thing of course: rejection, anger, sadness and, ultimately, to accept it",

Russia has begun testing the third phase of the Sputnik V vaccine to test its effectiveness with a large group of volunteers.