Birobidzhan Priest Blames Russian Government for Covid Deaths of His Parents

Paul Goble

            Staunton, Sept. 7 – Father Georgy Borisov, an Orthodox priest in Birobidzhan, has lost both his parents to coronavirus infections over the last two weeks and says the reason they died was not the virus but the failed government healthcare system there which has allowed to many to suffer (regnum.ru/news/3363288.html and https://regnum.ru/news/3363145.html).

            As the pandemic has continued and deaths have increased, Russians are increasingly taking the same position, recognizing that far more of them have suffered and died than would have been the case had Russia not undergone Vladimir Putin’s cost-saving health optimization program. Such anger is unlikely to abate for those who have lost family members.

            And their feelings are unlikely to be assuaged by economists like Igor Nikolayev who say that the Russian economy can continue to function for a very long time even if deaths from the coronavirus continue at the rate of 1,000 a day. The only requirement is that there not be any lockdown, he says (echo.msk.ru/blog/nikolaev_i/2899630-echo/).

            But other economists say that Russia does face a serious economic problem from the pandemic, albeit not domestically but from foreign countries. If the pandemic continues, their demand for Russian oil and gas will fall; and the Russian economy dependent on the export of those raw materials will suffer (ng.ru/economics/2021-09-06/1_8244_quarantines.html).

            Today, Russian officials reported registering 17,425 new cases of 795 new deaths from the coronavirus over the last 24 hours, with ever more analysts suggesting that the numbers are about to climb because of the onset of the flu season in which the two viruses will interact (t.me/COVID2019_official/3523, regnum.ru/news/society/3361504.html ups and downs https://regnum.ru/news/3363630.html and maximonline.ru/guide/vrachi-gotovyatsya-k-poyavleniyu-mikst-infekcii-koronavirusa-i-grippa-id678542/).

            Russian epidemiologists said that the Kremlin had miscalculated in thinking it could overcome the pandemic before the September 19 elections. What voters need, they say, is not propaganda but real medical help in the face of the increasingly infectious virus (trtrussian.com/magazine/deficit-vliyaniya-pochemu-v-rossii-provalili-plan-po-vakcinacii-ot-covid-19-6531701).

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

·         Russian scientists say they have come up with a device that will allow them to identify the presence of coronavirus in people in only 27 minutes (regnum.ru/news/3363215.html).

·         Aeroflot has fired several pilots who have refused to get vaccinated (regnum.ru/news/3363045.html).

·         Armenia has approved for general use Russia’s one-dose vaccine, Sputnik-Lite (sputnikvaccine.com/rus/newsroom/pressreleases/odnokomponentnaya-vaktsina-sputnik-layt-odobrena-v-respublike-armeniya/).