President Vladimir Putin has dismissed foreign criticism of Russia's Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine and said he planned to get a jab himself this week.

Critics in the West have raised questions about the vaccine and accused Russia of using it as a propaganda tool, but Putin called such comments “strange” and suggested lives were being put at risk.

“We are not imposing anything on anyone [...] Whose interests are such people protecting — of pharmaceutical companies or the interests of citizens of European countries?” he said in a televised meeting with health officials.

After months of queries about when the 68-year-old would himself be inoculated, Putin said he planned to do so on Tuesday, according to AFP.