Russian military plane with coronavirus aid lands in US

A Russian military aircraft, carrying supplies needed to fight the coronavirus outbreak, has landed in New York. The haul was sent after President Trump accepted an offer of assistance from Vladimir Putin.

The plane, that took off for its some 8,000-kilometer trek early overnight, has landed in the worst coronavirus-affected US city. The cargo contains personal protective and medical equipment supplies.

The delivery was agreed upon by the Russian and US presidents during a phone call. Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump discussed the fast-spreading Covid-19 pandemic as well as major shortages of protective gear in the US, according to the Kremlin press service.

Moscow said it decided to help since the coronavirus pandemic “affects everyone without exception and is of a global nature.” Trump, for his part, described the aid as a “nice” and a “very, very large planeload” of help from Russia.

The US State Department said as a follow-up to the Trump-Putin call on Monday that the US “has agreed to purchase needed medical supplies,” which were handed over to FEMA on Wednesday.

Even before the cargo plane took off, the delivery had already sent a number of prominent “Russian collusion” enthusiasts among American pundits into a frenzy. The anti-Russia crowd took on the quest to find sinister motives behind the gesture and branded the aid a “propaganda ploy,” claiming it was either useless or even harmful.

The US is by far the worst pandemic-affected country in the world as its coronavirus tally is rapidly approaching the 200,000 mark and death toll surpassing 4,100.

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