This article was originally published by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and is reprinted with permission.
The United States will donate 200 medical ventilators to Russia after the country saw a spike in new coronavirus cases, Voice of America (VOA) has reported.
The first 50 ventilators will be shipped to Moscow next week with the remaining arriving on May 26, the news agency said on May 16, citing U.S. government communications.
During a call with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on May 8, U.S. President Donald Trump offered to send the nation ventilators as it reported record new cases of COVID-19.
Trump later said that Putin accepted the offer.
However, a Kremlin readout of the call made no mention of that. Russia has not confirmed the VOA report.
Russia now has the second-highest total of reported COVID-19 cases after a surge of new infections over the past month. The United States has the largest number of reported cases globally.
Russia in April sent ventilators to the United States as cities like New York faced a shortage. Washington said it had paid for the equipment.
