Serbia and Argentina start producing Russia's Sputnik V vaccine

ST PETERSBURG (Reuters) - Argentina and Serbia gave an official start to the industrial production of Russia's Sputnik V vaccine against coronavirus, Russian state TV channel Rossiya 24 reported on Friday.

Russian President Vladimir Putin was shown on TV watching the start of vaccine production in both countries via videolink.

The Russian vaccine produced in Argentina and Serbia will meet their domestic needs first and is expected to be exported at a later stage, the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) which is marketing the vaccine said in a statement.

(Reporting by Katya Golubkova and Maria Tsvetkova; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)