Reuters | A Russian military transport plane was headed to the United States on
Wednesday carrying tons of medical equipment and masks to help
Washington fight coronavirus, Russian state TV reported and a U.S.
official said.
President Vladimir Putin offered Russian help in a phone conversation
with U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday, when the two leaders
discussed how best to respond to the virus.
The flight, which was organized by the Russian Defence Ministry, took off early Wednesday from an airfield outside of Moscow.
The
shipment was likely to be unpopular with some critics of Trump who have
urged him to keep his distance from Putin and who argue that Moscow
uses such aid as a geopolitical and propaganda tool to advance its
influence, something the Kremlin denies.
“Trump
gratefully accepted this humanitarian aid,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry
Peskov was cited as saying by the Interfax news agency on Tuesday night.
Trump himself spoke enthusiastically about the Russian help after his
call with Putin.
A U.S. official in Washington confirmed the
shipment was a direct result of the phone conversation between Trump and
Putin on Monday. The official said it carried 60 tons of ventilators,
masks, respirators and other items.
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