MOSCOW- Turkmenistan became the first country in Central Asia to register Russia's Sputnik V vaccine against COVID-19, the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) said on Monday.

"The vaccine was approved under the emergency use authorisation procedure without additional clinical trials in Turkmenistan," the RDIF said in a statement.

(Reporting by Vladimir Soldatkin; Writing by Alexander Marrow Editing by Gareth Jones) ((alexander.marrow@thomsonreuters.com;))