Moscow believes that certain countries are attempting to justify their belated and insufficient COVID-19 response measures by attacking the Word Health Organisation, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Saturday.
According to the Russian top diplomat, the international agency is doing an adequate, albeit not always perfect, job as a coordinator of health care policies.
Speaking at a programme aired by Russian state TV, Lavrov said that one should keep in mind that the work of the WHO is determined and effectuated by nations, which, until recently, had not issued any complaints about it.
G20 Plays Blame Game
The G20 has been torn by internal divisions on the coronavirus fight stemming from its attempts to find out who is at fault, Lavrov believes. The group earlier cancelled a videoconference due to the row between the United States and China on the WHO, media reported, citing a source involved in preparations for the call.
"Let's not forget about contradictions that arose due to the fact that this group was trying to determine who was to blame. Should we point a finger at one or several countries? At the World Health Organisation? Nevertheless, the G20 made the corresponding decision", he said.
US officials, including President Donald Trump, have repeatedly accused China of attempting to cover-up the coronavirus outbreak and of launching a disinformation campaign to suggest that the virus may have originated in the United States, both claims denied by Beijing.
President Trump also said that he would halt funding for WHO, accusing the latter of taking China’s word on the virus "at face value" and overlooking information about the risk of the human-to-human transmission of COVID-19.
The coronavirus that was declared pandemic by the World Health Organisation has infected 2,719,897 people globally and killed some 187,705, according to the update posted by the WHO at 2:00 pm CEST.
