Paul
Goble
Staunton, April 15 – During the
pandemic, Russia’s federal subjects have attracted attention for their actions
to prevent its spread. But remarkably little has been said about how people in
them are behaving. It appears that at least some regions represent another case
of the old truth that the severity of Russian laws is mitigated by the absence
of effective enforcement.
Mikhail Kulekhov, an Irkutsk
journalist, says that “in the Far East and Siberia, the quarantine exists only
on paper. To be sure, in the centers of cities, there are somewhat fewer cars
and people than on an ordinary day, but that isn’t the case on the peripheries
where life is bubbling along” (http://region.expert/mythes/).
“Current
measures of ‘self-isolation’ aren’t having an effect,” he says, because most
people in the regions, including himself think that “’the Russian quarantine is
a profanation and farce. It is killing business, sparking enormous social
tension, and provoking a wave of bankruptcies and a rise in unemployment.”
But
“in no way is it ensuring the real isolation of citizens and the breaking of
their social ties, about which doctors so love to speak.” Instead, this policy
like so many others reflects, “administrative inadequacy at all levels of
power.” The big shopping centers are in
fact closed, but in Irkutsk, the government itself says that 68 percent of
enterprises continue to work.
There
have only been 50 cases of a positive test for coronavirus out of a population
of 2.5 million in the Irkutsk region and only one death, he says; and so people
don’t see why they need to stop everything. A few people die all the time, and
from their perspective, Kulekhov says, there is no need to shut everything down
for this.
According
to the journalist, while there have been hotspots with many deaths, “’the great
virus myth’ doesn’t impress” people in places where the numbers are so low.
Many suspect the whole thing is a hoax invented by officials for their own
purposes. This is very unlikely, he continues.
“The
world is ruled not by some secret lodge but by a very public mess.” Bureaucrats
everywhere “are the same.” They don’t need to conspire to overreact or to use a
crisis as some kind of “’short victorious war’” they can play to their
advantage. What they are all hoping for
is an end when they can declare victory and take credit for it.
But
what these officials forget, Kulekhov says, is that such “short victorious wars”
often have “entirely different consequences” including but not limited to
economic collapse and popular anger among people “who in other circumstances
would be completely loyal to the regime.”
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