Vladimir Putin’s key man in talks with Donald Trump was behind a secret plot to challenge US influence by donating expired Covid vaccines to Africa, The Telegraph can reveal.

The scheme was spearheaded by Kirill Dmitriev, the head of the Russian sovereign wealth fund, who now holds a major role in Russia’s negotiations with the US over Ukraine.

In classified letters obtained by a European intelligence source and provided to The Telegraph, Mr Dmitriev urged the Russian health ministry to push back the expiration date on 6 million doses of the Sputnik Light jab by two months.

The doses were to be donated as “humanitarian aid” at a Russia-Africa summit originally scheduled for October 2022.

“The key competitors of Russian vaccines, including the United States, are already supplying a number of countries with free vaccines,” Mr Dmitriev wrote in a letter to Mikhail Murashko, the Russian health minister, which was marked as classified.

“Due to the current geopolitical situation, the possibility of organising humanitarian deliveries of Russian vaccines to friendly African countries is extremely urgent. We also request your assistance in promptly extending the shelf life of over 6 million doses of the vaccine Sputnik Light.”