Perm, Belgorod and Orel Won’t Hold Victory Parades When Moscow Does as Pandemic and Responses to It Becomes More Varied

Paul Goble

            Staunton, June 5 – Citing dangers of new coronavirus infections, officials in Perm, Belgorod and Orel announced that they will not hold Victory parades when Moscow does, decisions emblematic of the increasing diversity not only in the spread of the pandemic but in official responses to it (kasparov.ru/material.php?id=5EDA79848B258).

            Moscow and St. Petersburg are gradually opening up but many regions remain completely shuttered or alternatively have never introduced anti-pandemic measures in the past. This diversity is creating problems because people in places where restrictions remain in place are pointing to the removal of those limits elsewhere and demanding officials open up.

On this, see kavtoday.ru/article/5437, serdalo.ru/ukaz-o-pervom-etape-snyatiya-ogranichitelnyh-meroprpyatij-v-usloviyah-epidemicheskogo-rasprostraneniya-novoj-koronavirusnoj-infekczii/, echo.msk.ru/news/2655609-echo.html,  znak.com/2020-06-05/v_peterburge_otkroyut_neprodovolstvennye_magaziny, chaskor.ru/article/v_sibiri_opasayutsya_rosta_smertnosti_ot_koronavirusa_posle_nebyvaloj_zhary_46214, sobkorr.org/news/5EDA8208335DD.html and nazaccent.ru/content/33312-v-tatarstane-razreshat-molitsya-s-soblyudeniem.html.

This diversity is not well reflected in all-Russian statistics or in the behavior of the Kremlin. Today, there were 8726 new cases of coronavirus infection officially registered bringing the all-Russian figure to 449,000; and the total number of deaths rose above 5500 (novayagazeta.ru/news/2020/06/05/162073-v-rossii-chislo-zabolevshih-koronavirusom-priblizilos-k-450-tysyacham-chelovek-za-sutki-vnov-vyyavili-menshe-9-tysyach).

In some places, such as the Nenets AD, there were no new cases whereas in Moscow and other large cities, there were hundreds.

Many continue to question official statistics, and yet another source of error has been identified. In April, many registration offices were shut down and did not record deaths at all. When they reopened in May, the April deaths were recorded then and the numbers jumped (capost.media/news/mainhotnews/in-ingushetia-the-mortality-rate-has-increased-by-70-percent/).

But while the pandemic will continue to pose challenges across Russia not only on the day of the Moscow parade but also on the day of the referendum – in the Urals, officials say there won’t be video monitoring because of it (novayagazeta.ru/news/2020/06/05/162081-na-urale-iz-za-koronavirusa-otkazhutsya-ot-videonablyudeniya-na-golosovanii-po-konstitutsii) – the Kremlin continues its one-size-fits-all approach.

Yesterday, the Dossier Center published a Kremlin letter to the regions on the need to explain why people must vote for the referendum “in light of the experience of the pandemic” not because of it but because the pandemic has done nothing to change the fundamental problems Russia faces (mbk-news.appspot.com/news/kremlevski/).

According to the Kremlin political technologists, “the global pandemic has changed the entire world; nothing will be the same ever again. Therefore, the renewal of the Constituiton has become more significant.” 

Meanwhile, in other pandemic-related news from Russia,

·         Polls show that Russians are less frightened by the coronavirus than they were (krizis-kopilka.ru/archives/77010).

·         Ever more commentators are pointing out that those who blame the pandemic for Russia’s problems are making a big mistake: the coronavirus has highlighted and increased some problems but not created them (krizis-kopilka.ru/archives/77001).

·         Almost half of Russians do not have sufficient resources to spend even 30,000 rubles (480 US dollars) on vacations this year (krizis-kopilka.ru/archives/76980),

·         Almost one Russian in five is now complaining of a decline in wages and salaries (krizis-kopilka.ru/archives/76963).

·         Economics Vladislav Inozemtsev says that the Russian government’s approach to the crisis clearly does not include any plans to provide money directly to Russian citizens (echo.msk.ru/blog/partofair/2655111-echo/).

·         Russian restaurants earned just over half as much in April 2020 as they did in the same month last year (ng.ru/news/680885.html).

·         Inflation in Russia has been restrained by the radical decline in consumer demand (vedomosti.ru/economics/articles/2020/06/05/832052-rost-tsen).

·         Doctors from across Russia who came to Moscow when the pandemic hit that city first have not received the pay they were promised (sibreal.org/a/30655363.html).