JRL NEWSWATCH: “Washing his hands of it; As covid-19 spreads, Vladimir Putin is invisible; Russia’s indispensable leader is strangely absent from the fight against the pandemic” – The Economist

“For … past 20 years Russians have been told they could not survive without … Putin. … The public was also told over the past few months that the threat of the new coronavirus was greatly exaggerated, that the Americans had invented it to harm China, and that Russia was well protected. Now, Moscow and many other cities are in lockdown, while the number of cases is rising exponentially. Yet … Putin has all but vanished from public view, hunkered down in his residence. If there is blame in the air, he does not want to catch it. … Putin did perform one of his trademark publicity stunts … donning a bright yellow hazmat suit and a respirator and visiting a hospital treating covid-19 patients. But such stunts have only made the absence of empathy and leadership he has exhibited all the more apparent. …”

Click here for: “Washing his hands of it; As covid-19 spreads, Vladimir Putin is invisible; Russia’s indispensable leader is strangely absent from the fight against the pandemic” – The Economist

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