The Russian government has said that Moscow had no immediate plans to allow foreign coronavirus vaccines into Russia, despite the country's sluggish vaccination rates and rising death toll in a third wave of the pandemic.

Russia — whose Sputnik V vaccine is not recognised by the EU — is not currently discussing the “mutual recognition” of vaccines with Brussels, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

“We have our own four vaccines,” he said. “Isn't that a choice?” Aside from Sputnik V, Russia has registered three other vaccines — EpiVacCorona, CoviVac and Sputnik Light, a single-dose version of Sputnik V.

Health officials on Thursday recorded 791 Covid deaths in the last 24 hours. The Kremlin has struggled to counter widespread anti-vaccine sentiment, with only 20 percent of Russians having received at least one jab.