Hyderabad, May 2 -- M Somasekhar

Aircraft's arriving and departing airports is hardly any news. But, the Russian Aircraft that landed at the Hyderabad International Airport on May one could surely be a history making one indeed.

The landing of the Russian aircraft carrying a load of 150,000 vials of the Sputnik V vaccine coincided with the launch of vaccination for adults between18-44. The Sputnik V has demonstrated efficacy of 91.6 percent in protection against the COVID19.

In a way it symbolically raised the hope of extending the country's arsenal to fight the huge surge in numbers in the second wave that has pushed it into a health crisis. It also reinforced that Russia continues to be India's 'Friend in Need'.

Interestingly, the a...