The owners of an Abu Dhabi gallery, which specialises in Ukrainian art, offered to source the Czech government at least one million shots of the AstraZeneca vaccine it is claimed. According to documents seen by Reuters, gallery owner Natalya Muzaleva and her Hungarian husband Istvan Perger said that they obtained their supply from a partner at the Swedish drug company’s UK and India manufacturing bases.
The proposal was sent to the Czech ambassador to the United Arab Emirates. Czech authorities say their counterparts at the Hungarian embassy vouched for the offer, though it is unclear if any agreement between the pair was reached with the Viktor Orbán government. Hungary has the highest vaccination rate in the European Union.
Muzaleva told Reuters that there was ‘no deal’ but refused to offer any other comment.
Based at the Al Ain Tower in the Corniche area of the emirate, N2N gallery was founded in 2013 ‘with the ambition to help everyone discover the rich diversity of the European Academic School of Painting’. It also hosts a collection of 170 original works, including paintings, prints and sculpture. Talking to Gulf Today in January, Muzaleva said of her sales philosophy: ‘I believe collectors today are looking for a good story, particularly one that bridges the gap between the East and the West’.
