Russia has recorded its first known death from the H1N1 swine flu virus that is sweeping the globe, the World Health Organization has reported.
The WHO on Wednesday listed Russia on its www.who.int Website as among 15 European countries that have registered deaths from the virus.
Russian officials earlier this week publicly rejected comments by the head of Moscow's Virology Institute, Dmitry Lvov, who said a Russian woman had died from H1N1 in the country's first known death from the virus.
Authorities say they have registered 381 cases of H1N1, but Lvov told Russian television the actual figure could be in the tens of thousands, raising concern over the government's readiness to address the pandemic.
The WHO office in Moscow said the official in charge of covering H1N1 was not available for comment.
(Reporting by Matt Robinson; editing by Michael Roddy, +7 495 775 12 42))