Slovakia has been thrown into political turmoil over a secret deal to acquire Russia's Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine, orchestrated by the country's prime minister despite disagreement among his coalition partners.

Prime Minister Igor Matovic defended the purchase of 2 million doses, saying it was made in the public interest amid a surge of infections in one of the hardest-hit European Union countries.

Matovic said the point isn't where the vaccine comes from but that "it saves lives."

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After Hungary, Slovakia is now only the second EU country to use the vaccine, which hasn't been approved by the European Medicines Agency. The move was made possible after approval from Health Minister Marek Krajci, who represents Matovic's Ordinary People movement in his four-party coalition.

Coalition attacks

Foreign Minister Ivan Korcok from the center-right Freedom and Solidarity party said the vaccine was a tool in Russia's "hybrid war" against the West. "This political tool divides us at home and abroad," Korcok said. Adding that the purchase cast doubts over Slovakia's pro-Western orientation.

Deputy Prime Minister Veronika Remisova, the leader of another coalition partner, the For People party, has struck a cautious tone, stating that Sputnik V can't be used unless approved by the EU's drug regulator.

"We also care about the health of our citizens and their inoculation, but only with the vaccines whose safety and effectiveness have been verified," Remisova said.

Slovakia's President Zuzana Caputova said she was in favor of using "all available and safe vaccines" to protect people's lives, but that Sputnik V wasn't one of them because "there's no responsible authority to guarantee its safety."

Caputova spoke on Tuesday after meeting the head of Slovakia's drug agency, Zuzana Batova, who said to use an unregistered vaccine is "highly risky."

But with Western vaccines rolling out slowly, Matovic, the prime minister, argued his country "is not in a position to rely only on European solutions."

Protection above 90 percent

Last month, UK-based medical journal The Lancet published late-stage trial results showing Sputnik V provided around 92 percent protection against COVID-19. 

The results, in part, have led to a surge of interest in acquiring the vaccine, especially within the EU amid its struggling vaccine distribution program.

Kirill Dmitriev, CEO of the Russian Direct Investment Fund, said: "We have received numerous requests from EU states to provide Sputnik V directly to them based on the reviews of their national agencies."