Pressure from Above and Demands from Below Pushing Russia to Reopen Despite More Infections and Deaths

Paul Goble

            Staunton, June 8 – The number of coronavirus infections increased another 8985 in Russia over the last 24 hours reaching a total of 476,658; and the number of deaths rose by another 112 cases, reaching a total of 5971 (t.me/COVID2019_official/746).  But pressure from the Kremlin and demands from the population has forced more places to begin reopening. 

            The English-language Moscow Times reported this pattern in a story headlined “A Political Decision: Russia Declares Victory over Coronavirus Even as Cases Rise,” a pattern seen in other countries as well (themoscowtimes.com/2020/06/08/a-political-decision-russia-declares-victory-over-coronavirus-even-as-cases-rise-a70517).

            Moscow and St. Petersburg have both indicated they will start lifting restrictions, albeit not totally or as fast as some would like (rbc.ru/society/08/06/2020/5ede7ec79a794737ca415868 and rbc.ru/society/08/06/2020/5ede385b9a7947132cb5939d). The situation elsewhere is the same but with far more complaints both ways (babr24.com/kras/?IDE=201514 and mbk-news.appspot.com/region/administraciya-ne/).

            The Russian government did make two more general announcements about openings, about resorts and foreign travel. Prime Minister Mishustin said that resorts would begin opening on July 1 (interfax.ru/russia/712262), and officials said Russains could now go abroad for work, study or treatment but not on holiday (lenta.ru/brief/2020/06/08/granica/).

            But Russians got more bad news today on the economy and their standard of living. A Russian Academy of Economics and State Service poll found that 50 percent of working-age Russians are now at risk of losing their jobs or suffering pay cuts (krizis-kopilka.ru/archives/77083).And a Higher School of Economics survey found that more than one Russian in four doesn’t have enough money to buy food (krizis-kopilka.ru/archives/77067).

            A Levada Center poll reported that Russians have almost identical attitudes to the effectiveness of anti-pandemic policies taken by the president and government in Moscow and those adopted by their regional or republic leaders and administrations (levada.ru/2020/06/08/mery-po-borbe-s-pandemiej-koronavirusa/).

Meanwhile, in other pandemic-related developments from Russia today,

·         Moscow ethnographer Anna Sokolova reports that the pandemic has hit the funeral industry especially hard because of requirements for protecting people from the visit, including restrictions on open caskets and on visitors to funerals of friends or family members (lenta.ru/articles/2020/06/08/ritual/).

·         Volunteers are playing an increasing  role in helping both the immediate victims of the coronavirus and their families (lenta.ru/video/2020/06/08/volunteers/).

·         Under quarantine, Russians have been buying and consuming more vodka and in larger bottles and buying less whisky and other imported alcoholic beverages (agoniya.eu/archives/5962).