By Two to One, Russians Oppose Restoration of Mask Regime to Fight New Pandemic – and Kremlin Not Ready to Challenge Them Lest It Spark New Tensions

Paul Goble

            Staunton, July 28 – Even though covid infections are trending upwards again and are predicted to grow dramatically once the weather cools, Russians by a two to one majority (48 percent to 23 percent) oppose restoring requirements to wear masks even if that would protect them and their families from infectoin, a new Superjob poll finds.

            Because the Russian population is already under stress and because the new strains of the virus are not leading to a radical increase in hospitalizations and deaths, the Russian government is not prepared to challenge the people on this lest it spark new tensions and even political opposition (ng.ru/editorial/2022-07-28/2_8499_editorial.html).

            But this reluctance to take any unpopular measures could become a serious political problem for the regime if the pandemic returns in force and  people see that the authorities failed to take the kind of measures that would have prevented such a disaster, the editors of Nezavisimaya gazeta say.

            “For the time being,” they add, both the population and the powers have  gotten away with such attitudes; but that is only for the time being and only as long as the pandemic does not return in force later this year.