Pressured by Putin and Populace, Moscow Mayor Moves to Lift Pandemic Restrictions

Paul Goble

           

            Staunton, June 9 – Despite an infection rate that indicated no restrictions should be lifted, Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin, under direct pressure from Vladimir Putin who wants to have the city open before the Victory parade and referendum in the coming weeks and less direct pressure from people fed up with 2.5 months of restrictions, began lifting those limitations.

            The pressure from Putin was so obvious that both the Kremlin and the city government were at pains to deny it played any role in the mayor’s decision (openmedia.io/news/n3/sobyanin-uskoril-otmenu-karantina-v-moskve-po-prosbe-kremlya-dlya-podgotovki-k-golosovaniyu-po-konstitucii/,

vedomosti.ru/politics/articles/2020/06/09/832224-kreml-otkazalsya and forbes.ru/obshchestvo/402513-chudesnoe-iscelenie-moskva-vyshla-iz-samoizolyacii-pri-zarazhenii-kak-v-hudshie).

            What is striking and very indicative of power relations in Russia today, far fewer offered the explanation that the residents of the capital were very much in favor of lifting restrictions and celebrated each new move in that direction (novayagazeta.ru/articles/2020/06/09/85772-pochemu-sobyanin-otmenil-karantin and vedomosti.ru/society/galleries/2020/06/09/832235-moskva-posle-samoizolyatsii).

            But the transparency of what happened did not win Putin or Sobyanin any points, the first because he remains hidden in his bunker (kasparov.ru/material.php?id=5EDF1F735955D) and the second for showing how he isn’t the independent actor he has claimed to be (newizv.ru/news/city/09-06-2020/vopros-dnya-kto-otvetit-za-poteri-ekonomiki-vo-vremya-zapretov).

            Many were dismissive of claims about any improvement and others said that it was obviously too soon to open as much as Putin wants and Sobyanin has agreed to, albeit it must be admitted that Sobyanin has not opened things as much as Putin wants (https://echo.msk.ru/news/2657620-echo.html, echo.msk.ru/blog/echomsk/2657260-echo/ and novayagazeta.ru/articles/2020/06/09/85778-a-ne-rano-otmenili-samoizolyatsiyu-strim).

            And what may be most worrisome for the powers that be in Moscow is that an increasing number of experts and commentators are talking not only about the economic disaster the country finds itself in but also about the danger that regardless of what steps are taken now, the country faces an even more deadly second wave (krizis-kopilka.ru/archives/77085).

            The all-Russia figures for today were not especially good: There were 8595 new cases officially registered bringing the total in Russia to 485,253; with the number of deaths from the infection rising by 171 for a total of 6142 (t.me/COVID2019_official/770). And the number of medical personnel infected rose to 716 (kommersant.ru/doc/4373122).

            In some places the pandemic is still raging, and consumer officials say that while the overall trend may be positive, Russians should continue to wear masks until a vaccine is developed and tested (ura.news/news/1052435732). But in some places the number of new cases is so large that people are being turned away if they lack pull (sobkorr.org/news/5EDF6704DB551.html). Some of these regions are nonetheless loosening restrictions (rbc.ru/society/09/06/2020/5ebab8f19a79477fe7927e68).

            The economic news continued to be bleak, with the World Bank saying that the post-pandemic recession in Russia will be deeper and last longer than in other countries (ng.ru/economics/2020-06-09/1_7882_prediction.html and krizis-kopilka.ru/archives/77097). And a significant number of Russian firms may not reopen (rbc.ru/business/09/06/2020/5edfc8a69a79474201498c55).

            One especially interesting development is the split between the Russian Orthodox, on the one hand, and Muslims and Jews, on the other, over reopening. The ROC has followed the Kremlin and is opening back up. Muslim centers are reopening but with many restrictions (islamsng.com/rus/news/15804), while Jewish synagogues remain closed (credo.press/231432/).

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

·         Just Russia is taking the lead in defending those Russians who say they have the right to refuse to be inoculated when a vaccine against the coronavirus becomes available, an indication of what party leaders may see as a large anti-vac segment in the population (dailystorm.ru/vlast/spravedlivaya-rossiya-smotrit-v-storonu-kovid-dissidentov).

·         Officials in Russian-occupied Crimea have lifted restrictions on people coming from Russia but not those which exist for those from Ukraine or other countries. They will have to isolate themselves for two weeks (ria.ru/20200609/1572692990.html).

·         The supply of masks has risen to the point that the average price for one in Russia has fallen in recent weeks from 55 rubles to 33 (nine cents to five) (ura.news/news/1052435732).

·         Approximately 1,000 Russians travelled abroad in April, with more than 900 of them going to Turkey (ura.news/news/1052435732).

·         Anti-pandemic protections, including masks, have reduced the number of cases of coronavirus infection but they have also driven down the numbers of other infectious diseases in the Russian Federation (ura.news/news/1052435746).

·         Moscow is not going to reopen 15 to 20 percent of fitness centers because they have failed to adapt to the coronavirus challenge (https://tass.ru/moskva/8681125).

·         Many Russians have ignored restrictions, and official statistics report that more than 247,000 of them were fined for failing to do so (business-gazeta.ru/article/471429 and novayagazeta.ru/articles/2020/06/09/85761-avtomaticheskie-narushiteli).

·         Education experts say the coronavirus and the measures adopted to counter it has intensified the inequality in results on the school leaving examinations on which university admission depends because some students have good Internet connectivity while others do not (rosbalt.ru/moscow/2020/06/09/1848032.html).