Ventilator model sent to aid U.S. blamed in Russian fires
Russian ventilators that may have caused two deadly fires in the last week were the same model that President Vladimir Putin sent the U.S. to help in its battle against the coronavirus epidemic.
Five patients in a COVID-19 intensive care unit at the Saint George hospital in St. Petersburg, Russia, died when one of the devices caught fire Tuesday. The hospital has stopped using its Aventa-M ventilators pending an investigation, Tass news service reported, citing the head of the hospital’s emergency ward.
The same model of ventilator was being used at a Moscow clinic that suffered a fire last week, killing one person. The devices were the same type included in a shipment of medical supplies to New York last month. They’re made by a unit of a company, KRET, that the U.S. sanctioned in 2014.
KRET, which also produces electronic-warfare equipment, said that official investigations would consider faulty equipment or the state of the hospital’s electrical system among the possible causes of the two fires. The ventilator model has been in production since 2012 and has never received any complaints, according to the company.
The St. Petersburg hospital placed a 441 million-ruble ($6 million) order for more than 200 of the ventilators last month, Tass reported, citing a state tender website. The equipment was manufactured this year, according to Tass.
The order came as Russia has struggled to slow the growth of the coronavirus epidemic. It passed Spain on Tuesday to have the second-most cases in the world, adding 10,899 new diagnoses over the last day for a total of 232,243.
Russia may soon receive
American-made ventilators after President Donald Trump offered them to Putin during a call last week.
Trump was reciprocating after Putin’s April shipment, at a time when Russia was still hoping to contain the spread of coronavirus. The planeload of medical equipment was questioned by Russian opposition, who said the country should be bracing for the epidemic, and U.S. critics who dismissed it as a public relations stunt.
The cost of the shipments to the U.S., which was initially billed as humanitarian aid, was split between the American entities and the Kremlin’s sovereign wealth fund. ABC News reported that Russia billed the U.S. nearly $660,000, citing government documents.
The cargo included 45 ventilators but they were not immediately usable because of voltage-related issues, ABC reported, citing two unidentified U.S. officials.