Exclusive: Russian ventilators reached U.S. states without FDA oversight

FILE PHOTO: A view shows an Aventa-M medical ventilator next to a bed inside a pavilion of Crocus Expo exhibition centre, turned into a temporary hospital amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, on the outskirts of Moscow, Russia May 11, 2020. Picture taken May 11, 2020. REUTERS/Evgenia Novozhenina

WASHINGTON/MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian-made ventilators now under investigation for causing deaths in Russia were not authorized by U.S. health regulators before the same model was sent to New York and New Jersey at the height of their coronavirus outbreaks, Reuters has learned.

The 45 Aventa-M ventilators were sent to the United States after U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin discussed the shipment in a March 30 phone call. The equipment was received by Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) officers in New York on April 1st.