In September 2020, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov confirmed that the Trump administration sent a shipment of coronavirus testing equipment to Russia earlier that year. The delivery took place in the early days of the pandemic, at a time when the availability of such tests was greatly constrained in the United States.
Peskov’s statement contradicts a claim by then-President Donald Trump, who told journalist Bob Woodward as part of an interview for his book “Rage” that he was not aware of the gift. Trump’s spokesperson, Judd Deere, backed this up, saying that the president did not recall it.
However, Peskov stated that the delivery of the shipment was an example of cooperation between the two nations which President Vladimir Putin took sincerely, stating that Putin “doesn’t forget these things.”
The 45-ventilator delivery from the United States came at a time where the country itself was experiencing shortages in testing equipment and protective gear. The gesture raised eyebrows in the United States, where critics argued that the Trump administration was mismanaging its own response to the pandemic.
