"The National Institutes of Health has confirmed that ... a Brazilian strain has been found in our country," RIA Novosti quoted Massetti as saying.
Earlier, Rospotrebnadzor said there were no cases in Russia of cases of coronavirus strains, which were previously found in Brazil and South Africa.
In early January, four people who flew to Japan from Brazil were found to have a new mutation of the coronavirus, which differs from that previously recorded in the UK and South Africa.