Serbia's Belgrade-based Torlak Institute for virology and vaccines signed a contract on Monday on transfer of technology with the Russian Fund for Direct Investments and the Generium pharmaceutical company to start the production of the Sputnik V vaccine in Serbia, government minister Nenad Popovic, said.

“As of now, Torlak has access to data about the production of Sputnik V vaccine. This is sensitive and classified data that only partners with huge mutual trust can exchange,” Popovic said. He added that Torlak would produce three validation series of the vaccine this month.

The samples would be sent to Russia for quality check, Popovic said. After that, full scale production is expected to begin by May 20.

That would make Serbia the first country in Europe (outside Russia) to produce the Russian vaccine, Popovic said.