Putin slams vaccine criticism, to get jab on Tuesday

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday dismissed foreign criticism of the country's Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine and said he would get the jab the following day.

Describing EU remarks on the vaccine as "strange", Putin said: "We are not imposing anything on anyone... Whose interests are such people protecting -- of pharmaceutical companies or the interests of citizens of European countries?"

"Vaccination is of course the voluntary choice of every person... By the way, I intend to do it myself tomorrow," he said in televised remarks.