Putin hails new Sputnik moment as Russia is first to approve a COVID-19 vaccine

FILE PHOTO: Russian President Vladimir Putin takes part in a video conference call, dedicated to the opening of new military medical centres for patients infected with the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in Moscow, Russia June 30, 2020. Sputnik/Alexei Babushkin/Kremlin via REUTERS

MOSCOW (Reuters) - President Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday that Russia had become the first country to grant regulatory approval to a COVID-19 vaccine after less than two months of human testing, a move Moscow likened to its success in the Cold War-era space race.

The vaccine, which will be called "Sputnik V" in homage to the world's first satellite launched by the Soviet Union, has however not yet completed its final trials.