Paul
Goble
Staunton,
May 7 – For the fourth day in a row, the number of Russians who have been
tested and found infected with the coronavirus has risen by more than 10,000,
bringing the overall number to more than 165,000 (vedomosti.ru/society/articles/2020/05/06/829628-v-rossii-viyavili-zarazivshihsya-koronavirusom
and kasparov.ru/material.php?id=5EB2401C4F02E).
But
that is not the only statistic that is moving in ways the Kremlin can’t
possibly like. VTsIOM reports that the share of Russians who trust Vladimir
Putin has fallen to 28 percent, the lowest share ever (capost.media/news/politika/putin-s-rating-reached-a-record-low-/).
And the government’s tax colleections are down by 30 percent (meduza.io/news/2020/05/06/nalogovye-postupleniya-v-rossii-v-aprele-sokratilis-na-30).
Unemployment is surging, with nearly
a third of people who can’t make loan payments saying that it is because they
don’t have jobs and experts indicating that the numbers of jobless will continue
to rise for as long as they can see (capost.media/news/obshchestvo/number-neplatelschikov-on-loans-in-russia-increased-in-the-period-of-epidemic-and-isolation/,
mbk-news.appspot.com/news/reraf-30-virusa/ and russian.eurasianet.org/россия-во-взрывном-росте-безработицы-не-сомневаются-ни-эксперты-ни-чиновники).
Even those who have jobs are seeing
their salaries or wages drop and by amounts greater than in the decade before
Putin came to power (eastrussia.ru/news/ekspert-snizhenie-zarplat-v-rossii-budet-boleznennee-chem-v-90-kh/).
Key institutions like the Russian
Orthodox Church are being hurt with many clergy infected and church revenues
down so far that Patriarch Kirill has called for layoffs in his fiefdom (ahilla.ru/kolichestvo-klirikov-rpts-zabolevshih-kovidom-uvelichivaetsya-s-kazhdym-dnem/
and politsovet.ru/66351-rpc-predlozhila-uvolnyat-rabotnikov-prihodov-i-otpravlyat-ih-v-otpuska-bez-zarplaty.html).
Meanwhile, five other pandemic and
economic crisis-related developments are worth noting:
- A Russian public health specialist declared that the country simply doesn’t have enough healthcare capacity to provide medical assistance the population needs (mk.ru/social/2020/05/06/roshal-zayavil-o-nevozmozhnosti-massovo-okazyvat-medpomoshh-rossiyanam.html).
- More than 150 leading cultural figures called for the release of GULAG historian Yury Dmitriyev lest he contract the virus in a Karelian detention facility (7x7-journal.ru/news/2020/05/06/iz-za-obnaruzhennogo-v-sizo-koronavirusa-bolee-150-deyatelej-kultury-i-iskusstva-poprosili-osvobodit-karelskogo-kraeveda-yuriya-dmitrieva).
- The Russian finance minister said that the government will not provide financial assistance to individuals, something one commentator said no one had asked for but that many Russians aware of what other governments are doing believe should be compulsory under the circumstances (rosbalt.ru/posts/2020/05/06/1841855.html and znak.com/2020-05-06/nacboly_vyvesili_naprotiv_kabmina_plakat_s_lozungom_dengi_narodu).
- Rumors are swirling about the Russian government’s plans to loosen the lockdown or alternatively require Muscovites to wear masks, but the regime isn’t sharing its thinking with the population (meduza.io/feature/2020/05/06/pravitelstvo-razrabotalo-plan-otmeny-karantinnyh-mer-v-rossii-zaprety-budut-snimat-v-tri-etapa-kogda-imenno-neizvestno and meduza.io/news/2020/05/06/v-moskve-prigotovilis-vvesti-obyazatelnoe-noshenie-masok).
- And another member of the government, Culture Minister Olga Lyubimova, has been diagnosed with a coronavirus infection (rbc.ru/society/06/05/2020/5eb29ac79a79476f77dc0ba4).
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