The Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), Russia’s sovereign wealth fund), said that a multi-country survey showed that Russia is the “most trusted vaccine producer” alongside the US, with its Sputnik V as the most recognizable vaccine. 

In its statement, RDIF based this claim from the results of a YouGov survey that it shared involving 9.417 respondents from 9 countries on their vaccine preferences and country of preference in terms of vaccine production. 

According to the survey, 54 percent of respondents who selected a country they trust to produce a vaccine, considered Russia the most trusted vaccine producer alongside the US and leaving the UK behind, when asked to choose the 3 countries they trusted the most to produce a vaccine. 

Sputnik V, the world’s first registered vaccine against coronavirus, is the most recognizable one – over 7 in 10 (74%) of those surveyed have heard of the Russian vaccine. Sputnik V is also among Top-2 most preferred vaccines, just after the one produced by Pfizer/BioNTech. 

The survey was conducted between February 18 and March 3 by YouGov, the leading UK-based company in market research and data analytics in Asia, Latin America, the Middle East, North Africa and Europe. Residents of India, Brazil, Mexico, the Philippines, Vietnam, Argentina, Algeria, the UAE and Serbia participated in the poll. More than 2 billion people, or over 25% of the world's population, live in these countries. 

Kirill Dmitriev, CEO of the Russian Direct Investment Fund, commented: “Results of the YouGov survey in various parts of the world once again demonstrate the high confidence of respondents in Russia as a vaccine producer and in the Sputnik V vaccine. Thanks to the outstanding achievements of Russian science, the Sputnik V vaccine has been saving lives around the world as it is approved for use in more than 50 countries. The vaccine has a number of key benefits, including an efficacy of 91.6%, confirmed by the leading medical journal The Lancet, as well as a proven to be safe human adenoviral vector platform, attractive supply chain logistics and affordability, making Sputnik V one of the best vaccines in the world.” 

RDIF is Russia's sovereign wealth fund established in 2011 to make equity co-investments, primarily in Russia, alongside reputable international financial and strategic investors. 

The Moscow-based RDIF acts as a catalyst for direct investment in the Russian economy. Currently, RDIF has successful joint implementation of more than 80 projects with foreign partners totaling more than RUB2 tn and covering 95 percent of the regions of the Russian Federation. 

RDIF portfolio companies employ more than 800,000 people and generate revenues which equate to more than 6 percent of Russia’s GDP.