Trump Thanks Putin After Russia Sends Plane Of Medical Supplies For Coronavirus To U.S.

The Trump administration reportedly scored a good deal with Russia on ventilators and personal protective equipment desperately needed to combat the novel coronavirus (COVID-19).

On Wednesday, just days after President Donald Trump spoke to Vladimir Putin, a Russian plane carrying the equipment landed in New York.

State Department spokesperson Morgan Ortagus said the U.S. purchased the supplies.

“Both countries have provided humanitarian assistance to each other in times of crisis in the past and will no doubt do so again in the future,” Ortagus said. “This is a time to work together to overcome a common enemy that threatens the lives of all of us.”

At the White House Thursday, Trump called the supplies “a very nice gesture” but did not mention them being purchased.

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“It was a very nice gesture on behalf of President Putin and I could have said ‘no, thank you’ or I could have said ‘thank you.’ And it was a large plane of very high-quality medical supplies. And I said, ‘I’ll take it,'” Trump said.

Russia has sent supplies to other countries as well.

In mid-February the country donated 13.2 tons of medical supplies to help fight the novel coronavirus in China’s Hubei province. Russia also sent a military convoy of supplies to Italy, though much of the shipment was deemed to be defective.