Putin Might Use Pandemic-Style Lockdowns Against Khabarovsk Protesters, Kagarlitsky Says

Paul Goble

            Staunton, July 15 – Many have speculated that controls that were introduced to fight the pandemic may be retained by the authorities to give them greater power over the population, and there is one such tactic that Vladimir Putin may use if he feels compelled to in response to the ongoing Khabarovsk protests.

            That is a targeted lockdown of the population in that Far Eastern region that Moscow can explain as being required not to suppress dissent but to prevent a new outbreak of the coronavirus, Boris Kagarlitsky says. That would work to Putin’s advantage because people in Moscow and the West wouldn’t criticize him for that (krizis-kopilka.ru/archives/78205).

            Indeed, many would likely view a willingness to reimpose controls against what the center could report as a spike in infections as a positive rather than negative step by the Kremlin, even though in this case the target would not be a virus but rather popular anger against the Moscow regime.

            The Russian sociologist and left-of-center commentator may be on to something. Khabarovsk mayor Sergey Kravchuk has already suggested that the mass demonstrations against Moscow’s removal of region head Sergey Furgal are a super spreader event as far as the virus is concerned (versia.ru/myer-xabarovska-zayavil-ob-opasnosti-zarazheniya-koronavirusom-iz-za-mitingov-v-podderzhku-furgala).

            And even if Putin does not use this tactic in Khabarovsk, other Russian officials may be tempted to do so. Indeed, Chechnya’s Ramzan Kadyrov has taken steps in the course of the pandemic that appear to be more about defending his position than protecting the people (tass.ru/obschestvo/8964653).