UK lifts restrictions from safe countries including AUS and NZ, page-28

Contrary to common belief, Russian achievements in science and technology have historically rivalled scientific colossi, like the US, Germany and France. A short list of breakthroughs, which among others includes the discovery of actual viruses:

• Law of conservation of mass, Lomonosov (1756)
• First punch card system for record keeping, Korsakov (1832)
• Lenz's Law, Lenz (1833)
• Periodic table of elements, Mendeleev (1869)
• Electrical transfomers, Yablochkov (1876)
• Three phase electrical systems, Dobrovolsky (1889)
• Discovery of viruses, Ivanovsky (1892)
• First synthetic rubber, Lebedev (1910)
• First commercial airliner, Sikorsky (1913)
• Discovery of stem cells, Maximow (1924)
• Discovery of LED, Losev (1927)
• Heart & lung transplants, Demikhov (1946)
• FIrst nuclear power plant, Obninsk (1954)
• First artificial satellite, Sputnik 1 (1957)
• First man in space, Vostok 1 (1961)
• First space station, Salyut 1 (1971)
• Graphene, Novoselov (2004)

So I wouldn't be so quick to discount any potential Russian vaccine effort, it is a country with immesurable scientific contribution over the centuries and home to brilliant academics and researchers despite all the political shenanigans and mistrust from many Western countries (media).