Paul Goble
Staunton, June 30 – In his direct line program, Vladimir Putin continued to deliver mixed messages about the pandemic and to seek to shift any responsibility for the suffering of the Russian people away from himself. He said that vaccinations are required for overcoming the pandemic but that in his view, they shouldn’t be mandatory (dailystorm.ru/news/putin-nikakoy-nerazberihi-s-vakcinaciey-net, regnum.ru/news/3309348.html and regnum.ru/news/3309506.html).
At the same time, acknowledging that he had been vaccinated with the Sputnik-5 medication, the Kremlin leader said that the governors have the right to introduce mandatory vaccinations, acting as if they aren’t his appointees, and that Russians should listen to specialists who almost unanimously favor vaccination (regnum.ru/news/3309350.html and regnum.ru/news/3309373.html).
Putin further complicated the situation by saying firing people for not getting the vaccine is illegal, something officials have been doing, and that about 10 percent of those who do get the shots get sick, thus feeding into an anti-vaxxer narrative that hasn’t been confirmed (regnum.ru/news/3309365.html and znak.com/2021-06-30/znak_com_popytalsya_nayti_lyudey_kotorye_umerli_posle_privivki_ot_kovida_i_provalilsya).
He did lash out at those who sell or purchase false certification about having received the vaccinations (regnum.ru/news/3309698.html). And while he was speaking, Moscow officials reported closing down 19 Internet sites offering QR and other certificates illegally (ria.ru/20210630/feyki-1739255478.html).
Today, Russian officials reported registering 21,042 more infections, pushing the pandemic total above 5.5 million, and 669 new deaths from the coronavirus, a new daily record. These figures are disturbing because they are going up at a time when most of the world is experiencing declines (t.me/COVID2019_official/3173, t.me/stopcoronavirusrussia/5064 and gordonua.com/blogs/alfred-koh/vezde-smertnost-ot-covid-19-stala-sravnitelno-nizkoy-a-v-rf-naoborot-rekordnoe-kolichestvo-umershih-perestali-lechit-ili-vakcina-govno-1560418.html).
As the pandemic situation deteriorates across Russia, officials are imposing more restrictions or in a twist threatening to do so unless Russians get vaccinated. They are also urging Moscow to impose some restrictions on its own lest there be a competition among regions (regnum.ru/news/society/3305995.html, capost.media/news/obshchestvo/rospotrebnadzor-prizval-mishustina-zapretit-massovye-meropriyatiya-v-strane/ and ura.news/news/1052492186).
Despite regime propaganda, sociologist Aleksey Levinson says, Russians still fear the vaccine more than they do the coronavirus and are reluctant to get their shots (business-gazeta.ru/article/514258). Their state reasons vary but fears underlie most of them (mbk-news.appspot.com/suzhet/antivaksery/).
Muscovites don’t like the QR codes required for visiting most restaurants and have taken to the Internet to register their anger, and Russians in Sakhalin have taken to the streets to protest against any vaccination program that includes elements of compulsion (regnum.ru/news/3308853.html and regnum.ru/news/3308919.html).
Those Russians who have received their vaccinations are overwhelmingly ready to get boosters as the health ministry is now suggesting. Indeed, revaccination programs have begun in some regions of the country (regnum.ru/news/3309232.html, regnum.ru/news/3309299.html and regnum.ru/news/3309910.html).
On the economic front, the Kremlin said that Russian business does not need massive assistance to cope with the pandemic crisis, a view few in that sector would agree with; and people in some places say the authorities don’t want to help Russians because they are sure the people are hiding money (sibreal.org/a/peskov-rossijskomu-biznesu-ne-nuzhna-massirovannaya-pomoshch-/31332887.html and severreal.org/a/chto-proishodit-s-ekonomikoy/31326427.html).
Meanwhile, in other pandemic-related developments in Russia today,
· There is some talk that officials may set up special voting regimes so that the vaccinated will use one and the unvaccinated another, something that will drive down participation significantly if adopted (regnum.ru/news/3308985.html).
· Some opposition parties, and the KPRF in particular, clearly are prepared to make vaccination an issue in the upcoming Duma elections; but doing so, Nezavisimaya Gazeta warns in a lead article is fraught with “political risk” (ng.ru/editorial/2021-06-30/2_8186_editorial.html).
· The Moscow Patriarchate says that more than 5,000 of its priests, monks, hierarchs and other religious have been infected with the coronavirus so far (regnum.ru/news/3309902.html).
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