Paul
Goble
Staunton, June 3 – Russian outlets
have given prominent coverage to a Reuters report (ru.reuters.com/article/topNews/idRUKBN23A2JU-ORUTP)
that the actual number of coronavirus deaths in Russia may be as much as 10
times official figures and that Moscow is deliberately holding back bad
economic news lest the population become agitated.
But despite government efforts to
understate both, the numbers being released are depressing enough. Today,
Russia registered 8536 new cases of coronavirus infection, bringing the national
total to 432,277 (kasparov.ru/material.php?id=5ED75457897FD),
even though the WHO said Russia had “plateaued” (ura.news/news/1052434871).
The Russian media are focusing
primarily on the issue of when restrictions will be lifted. Approximately half
of all Russian regions have begun to ease these limits (tass.ru/obschestvo/8636803), but
in many places, medical officials say that the regions should not be taking
this step yet (agoniya.eu/archives/5860).
And some officials say that the
Russian government does not plan to lift all pandemic restrictions until July
2021 (interfax.ru/russia/711381),
although it is unclear which ones will remain in place that long and which will
be lifted.
As one would expect, the entire process
has become enmeshed in politics, most prominently in disputes between the prime
minister and the mayor of Moscow over how to handle the pandemic and of course
over who will be seen as taking the most popular stand (iarex.ru/articles/75530.html and
iarex.ru/articles/75528.html).
The economic situation is dire. More than
two million Russians are now officially unemployed, and some experts project
their number to exceed 10 to 15 percent of the workforce before the pandemic ends
(pro.rbc.ru/demo/5ed777499a7947704759e501).
Real incomes are falling and likely to fall even further (dcenter.hse.ru/mirror/pubs/share/direct/369947599.pdf).
Experts and politicians are now saying
that unless the government changes course and provides direct assistance to the
population, the future will be dire indeed (svpressa.ru/society/article/267164/).
And ever more commentators are expressing skepticism that the Russian
government will take the necessary steps (krizis-kopilka.ru/archives/76909).
Two critiques today were especially sharp.
Deputy Prime Minister Yury Borisov says the government’s reserve fund have not
been used as they could and should have been (iarex.ru/news/75539.html), and
Natalya Shavshukova, cofounder of the School of Local Self-Administration says
that the incumbent government isn’t capable of preventing a Great Depression (krizis-kopilka.ru/archives/76907).
The difficult process of clawing back
power from regional officials who have grown accustomed during the pandemic to
acting on their own has begun, with some progress, much resistance and even
more anger on both sides (novayagazeta.ru/articles/2020/06/03/85678-tsarek-na-otshibe).
And some Duma deputies have added their
voices to those of commentators and human rights activists who have been saying
for weeks that the Kremlin is using the pandemic to put in place even more
restrictive arrangements that are unlikely to be lifted even after the
coronavirus passes (regions.ru/news/2628419/).
Meanwhile, other coronavirus-related news
from Russia includes:
·
Putin’s
spokesman Dmitry Peskov says that by the time Russians vote on the
constitutional amendments on July 1 the epidemiological situation will be “significantly
better than now” (iarex.ru/news/75529.html).
·
During
the pandemic, Russians have not been immunizing their children against other
diseases, making it likely that there will be an upsurge of these later this
year, medical experts say (rosbalt.ru/moscow/2020/06/03/1847042.html).
·
Moscow’s
six mosques will resume more or less normal operation on June 6, Sheikh Ravil
Gaynutdin says (http://www.islamsng.com/rus/news/15787).
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