Putin Says 'National Unity’ Helped Russia to Get Through Pandemic in ‘Worthy’ Fashion

Paul Goble

            Staunton, July 13 – Vladimir Putin says that Russia got through the pandemic in a “worthy” fashion because of “national unity.” He admitted says that the passage through was “not without problems” but overall fine, speaking about the coronavirus exclusively in the past tense (nazaccent.ru/content/33595-putin-rossiya-dostojno-otvetila-na-vyzov.html).

            He and his press secretary Dmitry Peskov said that with regard to the economic situation, Russians face “difficulties ahead” (https://krizis-kopilka.ru/archives/78147); but the Kremlin clearly is signaling that it is now looking beyond the pandemic to the economy, something those still very much suffering from the virus may not be entirely pleased by. 

            And the pandemic very much continues in the Russian Federation: 6537 new cases were officially registered, bringing the total so far to 733,699; and the new of new deaths in the past 24 hours was 104, upping that index to 11,439 (t.me/COVID2019_official/1028). As St. Petersburg’s head says, “the coronavirus hasn’t gone away” and without public discipline won’t (rbc.ru/society/13/07/2020/5f0c97489a7947e291ac98d4).

            But that kind of discipline was not much on public view in resort areas. In Sochi, for example, thousands of tourists ignored both facemask and social distancing requirements, triggering fears that this will spread the disease (capost.media/news/otdykh/thousands-of-tourists-in-sochi-ignore-the-prohibitions-of-the-authorities-in-connection-with-the-cor/).

            While some regions are loosening restrictions, others have been forced by the epidemiological situation to extend them (eastrussia.ru/news/karantin-dlya-priezzhayushchikh-iz-za-granitsy-otmenili-v-zabaykale/ and asiarussia.ru/news/24793/). Problems with hospitals and first aid responders are being reported in some places (prmira.ru/news/v-norilske-skoroj-pomoschi-zapretili-ezdit-na-vyizovyi-u-nas-nekomu-spasat-lyudej-budet-skoro/).

And even though the first wave is not done, Russian experts and commentators are ever more frequently debating the possibilities of a second wave (nakanune.ru/articles/116214/).

Again, however, there was no let up in the bad economic news. Wages and salaries fell in 68 regions of Russia during March and April (sobkorr.org/news/5F0C4BF2879C6.html). Major national programs have been postponed for a decade because of declining government revenues (finanz.ru/novosti/aktsii/uskorenie-rossiyskoy-ekonomiki-otlozhili-na-10-let-1029386867).

And experts predict that a quarter of Russia’s shopping malls will likely close this fall (znak.com/2020-07-13/k_oseni_v_rossii_mozhet_zakrytsya_chetvert_torgovyh_centrov). But perhaps the saddest development is the passage of a law that bans using property to get loans from pawn shops, something many Russians have been doing (krizis-kopilka.ru/archives/78159).

PayPal has suspended operations within Russia (krizis-kopilka.ru/archives/78157), and criminals are now focusing on seizing bonuses paid to users of bank credit cards, an indication of how hardd up even the criminal element is (krizis-kopilka.ru/archives/78168).

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

·         A new study finds that the pandemic has increased gender inequality in Russia and hit women harder because they form a majority of healthcare workers (russian.eurasianet.org/россия-коронокризис-обострил-гендерное-неравенство).

·         A Higher School of Economics investigation finds that the pandemic restrictions that were imposed on the courts improved their operation and argues that many of them should be retained on a permanent basis (kommersant.ru/doc/4415498?from=main_8).

·         And an examination of those who have been working found that those who do show how much they don’t like their jobs and that their children pick up on this (svpressa.ru/society/article/270739/).