Russian President Vladimir Putin's patience seems to be
running out due to the corona virus. On Monday, President Putin sent millions
of workers across the country to work in factories and construction sites, as
well as announcing the end of a six-week complete lockdown. The decision on how
and when to lift other sanctions is left to regional leaders. This decision has
been taken at a time when the rate of virus infection is very high in the whole
country and especially in Moscow. But on Thursday, Putin was telling his
government that life was returning to normal. He said the government should now
focus on other priorities besides the corona virus. The message from the top
leadership is clear: Russia's president wants the country to move beyond
Corona. "I think for the first time in his active political life, Putin
has faced a challenge that is beyond his control," said Nikolai Petrov, a
Chatham House political analyst. Because of this problem, all their plans have
come to naught. This spring, the general public had to vote on an amendment to
the constitution. The amendment would have "allowed" Putin to run for
office twice more. Instead, Putin, 67, was forced to move out of his residence
outside Moscow when he visited a Corona virus hospital in a hazmat suit in an
attempt to maintain his "action man" image. There were children with
the infection. The doctor who took him to the hospital later found him infected
with the virus. In isolation, President Putin was forced to work on a big
screen via video conferencing. Their popularity rating is at an all-time low of
59%. In addition, during long phone calls, they have been seen to be irritable
and bored. Nikolai Petrov says "Putin wants to carry out his plans
anyway." This means that he wants to vote for constitutional reform, and
for that through state TV and large billboards. Advertising on a scale. The day
Vladimir Putin formally announced the end of the lockdown, Russia recorded the
largest increase in coronavirus cases. Since then, there has been a slight drop
in official figures every day, but the total number of people infected with the
virus in the country is more than two and a half million, bringing it closer to
the most infected countries in the world. But here politicians have emphasized
another statistic: the death toll is less than one percent. "This shows
that the quality of health care in our country is better than in the United
States," Speaker of Parliament Vyacheslav Volodymyr said on Wednesday. A
total of 2212 deaths were reported. He added: "We should thank our doctors
and our president who are working day and night to save lives." He was
supported by MPs. The death toll from Corona in Russia has been widely
questioned, and there are indications that Russia is hiding the death toll. But
authorities have denied the allegations and called such statements "fake
news." High mortality statistics are important for estimating deaths due
to corona infection, as they include people who have not been tested for corona
and those who have died outside the hospital.
The death toll in Moscow in April was about 1,700, lower
than in London and other cities. Moscow's health department says about 60
percent of suspected deaths in Corona were caused by something other than a
heart attack or other illness. And this fact is also evident from the
postmortem report. The administration has refused to hide anything. Had plenty
of time to prepare to deal with the corona infection. Now more than 40,000
people are being tested in one day. Identifying cases early and providing them
with immediate medical care is also proving to be helpful and has prevented many
deaths. In many European countries, the death toll is so high that there is no
place to keep a body in a mortuary. This may be due to cultural diversity. The
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Boris Johnson, for example, held meetings
for a long time at a social distance, and there was a time when he had to enter
the ICU. A spokesman for Vladimir Putin battled a fever for three days before
being admitted to hospital with double pneumonia. In an interview with a
newspaper, Dmitry Peskov described how he fell ill despite taking all
precautions during his work, when in the Kremlin even a paper is disinfected
before it is handed over to anyone. Peskov said he had not been in direct
contact with President Putin for about a month. It is unclear when Russian leaders
will decide whether it is safe to return to the Kremlin. Many people are still
working from home and restrictions on corona infections are still in place. It
is now up to the mayor to lift the ban, but Sergei Sobyanin has also refused to
allow people to walk outside daily. On Thursday, he said it was the most
difficult decision ever made. He said that the cost is people's health and life
is. Unemployment in Russia continues to rise. Unemployment figures have doubled
since the epidemic began. Independent polling firm Levada said in a poll that
one in four people had lost their jobs or were in danger of losing their jobs. One-third
of people have had their pay cuts or reduced working hours. The Russian people
do not save much, and government support for the lockdown is limited, so the
pressure to ease sanctions is mounting. "Russian leaders know that the
policy of 'no-work, no-money' will fall and it will spread chaos," said
political analyst Lelya Shivasova. So they enforced strict laws during the epidemic
when we were far from being the top country for infection. In his blog for the
Echo Musky radio station, he wrote: "They should have conquered the corona
virus, and that too soon!" But the virus is still spreading in Russian
territory, unaware of the Kremlin's political ambitions. And it is difficult to
stop the damage being done to Russia's strong leader. "Even if he gets the
constitutional vote he wants, it will not change the fact that Putin is now
relatively weak," said Nikolai Petrov.
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