Russia Opening Up on Putin’s Order Despite Continuing Rises in Pandemic Infections and Deaths

Paul Goble

            Staunton, June 1 – Vladimir Putin’s statement that Russia has passed the peak of the coronavirus and that there won’t be any problems holding a Victory Day parade on June 24 and conducting a referendum about the constitutional amendments on July 1 has prompted officials to begin reopening the country, even though infections and deaths continue to rise.

            Over the last 24  hours, Russian officials registered 9025 new cases and 162 more deaths across the country, bringing the totals to almost 415,000 and more than 4200 respectively (vedomosti.ru/society/articles/2020/06/01/831563-v-rossii). But while there may have been progress in some places, serious hotspots remain.

            The worst may very well be in Daghestan, even though Putin has declared that his regime has done everything necessary for overcoming the pandemic there (etokavkaz.ru/news/85117). But Moscow observers say the situation is disastrous (capost.media/special/coronavirus-in-dagestan-the-italian-scenario-with-a-clan-accent/), and Daghestanis are volunteering to make up for official shortcomings (etokavkaz.ru/obshchestvo/salam-aleikum-nado-spasat-etot-gorod ).

            However, because Putin has signaled that in his view the pandemic is now ebbing, Russian officials have rushed to support his position by suggesting the country is entering a post-pandemic stage and even that no restrictions may be needed by June 24 (znak.com/2020-05-31/peskov_nadeetsya_chto_k_paradu_pobedy_ot_rezhima_ogranicheniy_nichego_ne_ostanetsya).

            That has triggered a rush to announce plans for reopening parks, shopping malls, cafes, restaurants, and religious facilities (themoscowtimes.com/2020/06/01/moscow-eases-lockdown-despite-high-virus-caseload-a70436, iarex.ru/news/75470.html and kp.ru/daily/27136/4228352). As a result, traffic jams have returned to Moscow (vestikavkaza.ru/news/na-dorogi-moskvy-vernulis-probki.html).

            But stores that have reopened report that those visiting them are not purchasing anything because they lack the funds to do so (kommersant.ru/doc/4364843), no surprise given that 70 percent of Russians say they are short of cash and many are now seeking loans of one kind or another (kommersant.ru/doc/4364779 and krizis-kopilka.ru/archives/76837).

            The overall economic situation remains bleak as well: the economic development ministry says Russia’s GDP was down 12 percent in April from a year ago and economists at the Academy of Sciences add that they do not think the Russian economy will recover until sometime after 2024 (krizis-kopilka.ru/archives/76827  and ehorussia.com/new/node/20895).

            Officials report that Russians are not paying for their communal services because of the crisis and predict more problems with non-payments later this year (krizis-kopilka.ru/archives/76825), and Russians are using far less gasoline than they did, another indication of economic hardship and pandemic restrictions (lenta.ru/news/2020/06/01/low/).

            Regional governments in many cases have enough money only for another few weeks, and some of them are beginning to cut back essential services like schools. That has sparked anger in St. Petersburg (finanz.ru/novosti/aktsii/deneg-ostalos-na-neskolko-nedel-regiony-vstrechayut-krizis-s-pustoy-kaznoy-1029268971 and agoniya.eu/archives/5799).

            One measure of popular anger about all this is that every other Russian tells sociologists that the country has far too many prohibitions (newizv.ru/news/society/01-06-2020/dayte-vozduha-kazhdyy-vtoroy-rossiyanin-schitaet-chto-v-strane-slishkom-mnogo-zapretov). And more generally, Russians are expressing fears about all the uncertainties they face even after the pandemic (mk.ru/politics/2020/06/01/era-neopredelennosti-rossiya-zazhivet-po-zakonam-khaosa.html).

            And there is growing appreciation of the fact that the Putin regime is using the pandemic as cover for introducing ever more repression (newtimes.ru/articles/detail/194704?fcc).

The latest example is the government’s plan to classify purchases by the Russian Guard (finanz.ru/novosti/aktsii/pravitelstvo-zasekretit-zakupki-rosgvardii-i-fso-1029269411).

            Meanwhile, other pandemic-related news from Russia includes:

·         Russian medical specialists are beginning clinical trials of two potential coronavirus vaccines (kp.ru/daily/27136/4228118/).

·         A new analysis finds that more than 80 percent of new coronavirus cases are among people younger than 65 (echo.msk.ru/blog/covid2019_official/2652644-echo/).

·         Like Donald Trump in the US, some Russian officials are promoting hydroycholoroquine as a cure for the virus; but also like doctors in the US, medical personnel in Russia are largely ignoring such recommendations (themoscowtimes.com/2020/06/01/as-russian-officials-back-hydroxychloroquine-doctors-take-matters-into-their-own-hands-a70435).

·         The Russian defense ministry is promising to test all students at the country’s military university after an outbreak there (dailystorm.ru/obschestvo/v-minoborony-zayavili-chto-kursantov-voennogo-universiteta-obespechat-siz-i-budut-regulyarno-testirovat).