Soldiers march during the military parade marking the 75th anniversary of the victory in the Great Patriotic War on Red Square in Moscow, Russia, June 24, 2020.Photo:Xinhua

Russia has begun mass coronavirus vaccination among its armed forces personnel, planning to inoculate more than 400,000 servicemen, Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said on Friday at a ministral meeting.

He added that the plan is to vaccinate over 400,000 servicemen in total.

According to the minister, the number of already vaccinated Russian servicemen is over 2,500 at the moment and is expected to reach 80,000 by the year-end.

As Deputy Prime Minister Tatyana Golikova said on Tuesday, the mass vaccination against COVID-19 in Russia is scheduled for 2021 and it would be voluntary. She also pointed that over 117,000 doses of Sputnik V vaccine have already been released into the market, and over 2 million doses are going to be produced by the end of 2020.