(Paul Goble – Window on Eurasia – Staunton, September 19, 2020) The pandemic has introduced major changes in Russian government policy but perhaps not one greater than this: for the first time in a very long time, the Russian government has spent more on promoting the economy than on maintaining and developing its military (sobkorr.org/news/5F6610F248362.html). The number of new cases […]
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“Russian children have returned to schools …. [T]eachers underwent mandatory virus tests …. Temperature checks are conducted each morning … [S]chool schedules were amended to reduce the number … attending at the same time. Authorities also limited … school cafeterias and recreation areas …. Masks in schools are not mandatory for all of Russia’s 85 regions ….” If a child […]
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MOSCOW. Sept 10 (Interfax) – Russia registered 5,363 new coronavirus cases and 128 coronavirus-related deaths in the past 24 hours, the operative headquarters said on Thursday. “Over the past day, 5,363 Covid-19 cases were confirmed in 84 regions of Russia, including 1,302 active asymptomatic cases (24.3%),” the headquarters said. The daily growth in new coronavirus cases is on the rise. […]
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“Russian scientists have belatedly published first results from early trials into the experimental Sputnik V vaccine, which received government approval last month but drew considerable criticism from experts, as the shots had only been tested on several dozen people before being more widely administered. In a [Lancet] report … [vaccine] developers … said it appeared to be safe and to […]
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[Lancet: thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(20)31866-3/fulltext] MOSCOW. Sept 4 (Interfax) – One of the world’s most reputable medical journals, The Lancet, has published the results of the Phase 1 and Phase 2 clinical trials of the Russian coronavirus vaccine Sputnik V, developed by the Gamaleya Institute. “The research being published in The Lancet proves the high level of safety and efficacy of the Russian […]
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(Paul Goble – Window on Eurasia – Staunton, September 1, 2020) Russian officials reported registering 4729 new cases of coronavirus infection over the last 24 hours, bringing the total since the start of the pandemic to 1,000,048. They also said the number of new deaths equaled 123, bringing that toll to 17,299 (t.me/COVID2019_official/1403). Passing a million officially registered cases has […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Sept. 2, 2020) Russia’s population could see its biggest decline in 14 years in 2020 as the coronavirus pandemic has raised the country’s death rate amid falling birth rates, according to government forecasts reported by the RBC news website Tuesday. The Covid-19 outbreak will also push Russia’s poverty rate up from 12.3% in 2019 to […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Sept. 2, 2020) Elderly scientists who helped develop Russia’s Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine have not reported adverse effects after being injected, the head of the research institute behind the inoculation told the state-run RIA Novosti news agency Wednesday. Sputnik V’s registration last month as the world’s first coronavirus vaccine before large-scale clinical trials has sparked […]
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Vladimir Putin celebrated Russia being the first to announce a vaccine, but a new Levada poll suggests Russians are less impressed […]
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Over the last month, regions including Moscow are reporting figures that reflect what their leaders have promised but that are improbable when subjected to mathematical analysis […]
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MOSCOW. Aug 25 (Interfax) – Russia registered 4,696 new Covid-19 cases and 120 coronavirus-related deaths in the past 24 hours, the coronavirus response headquarters said on Tuesday. “Over the past day, 4,696 new Covid-19 cases were confirmed in 84 regions of Russia, including 1,253 active asymptomatic cases (26.7%),” the headquarters said. Russia has reported record low numbers of new Covid-19 […]
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Earnings season shows tech companies setting record-high share prices, and closing the gap on Russia’s energy giants. (Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Jake Cordell – Aug. 20, 2020) Russia’s younger technology companies have weathered the coronavirus pandemic significantly better than the country’s heavyweight energy and commodities giants, corporate results released during the summer earnings season has shown. While tech empires […]
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A survey of 5,000 Russians … finds the level of pessimism about the future is greater in Moscow and other major cities than elsewhere … [T]hese cities were hit harder by the pandemic than anywhere else […]
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“Patients continue to fill hospitals as rumours and cynicism spread about a vaccine.” “… [A]ll these [Moscow] hospitals [are now COVID-19 centres,] devoted to one disease that didn’t exist … months ago[] … shocking inside the hospitals. From the moment you’re in the elevator you’re in a ‘red zone’ … considered contaminated[,] [e]verywhere … a red zone[,] … nurses prepar[ing] […]
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A Covid-19 mass vaccination campaign may start in Russia in December-January, Alexander Gintsburg, director of the Gamaleya National Research Center for Epidemiology and Microbiology of the Russian Health Ministry, said […]
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“Officials in Russia and the West express alarm at the speed the vaccine was developed.” “[With Putin’s blessing,] Russia registered the world’s first Covid-19 vaccine … amid [anticipation, skepticism and ] safety concerns …. Moscow’s [state-run] Gamaleya Institute for Epidemiology and Microbiology developed the vaccine … [with] military testing, accelerated clinical evaluations and shortened trial times …. Russia [plans] … […]
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Analysis of excess fatalities show regions may be underreporting deaths from Covid-19 […]
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Russia has become the first country to approve a vaccine against the coronavirus … Putin said … despite widespread concerns about its safety. Russia … has the world’s fourth-highest coronavirus caseload […]
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“Russia’s race to allow civilian use of a … coronavirus vaccine before clinical trials are complete could put people at risk, according to a local association of multinational pharmaceutical companies[, the Association of Clinical Trials Organizations (ACTO) … represent[ing] … multinational companies with clinical trials in Russia, including Pfizer, AstraZeneca and Novartis AG]. The government plans to give a vaccine […]
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“Russia boasts … it’s about to become the first country to approve a COVID-19 vaccine, with mass vaccinations planned as early as October using shots … yet to complete clinical trials … [S]cientists worldwide are sounding the alarm …. Moscow sees a Sputnik-like propaganda victory …. But … there’s no published scientific evidence … backing Russia’s late entry to the […]
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… Another question, given polls showing that many Russians do not want to risk getting the vaccine at least initially, is how rapidly Moscow will ramp up what promises to be a massive propaganda campaign […]
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… Russia also closed its borders to most foreign citizens, with exceptions for diplomats, relatives of deceased people, high-demand workers and other categories […]
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“The announcement raised concerns that Russia would begin inoculations and declare victory in the race for a coronavirus vaccine without fully testing its product.” “Russia plans to launch a … vaccination campaign in October … [for] coronavirus … yet to complete clinical trials, raising international concern about the methods the country is using to compete in the global race to […]
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“Moscow’s Watcom shopping index has regained almost all the ground lost from a lockdown on the capital earlier this year” “[The] Watcom shopping index [tracking foot traffic at Moscow’s leading malls] has recovered almost all … ground lost during the [spring] lockdown …. [Moscow’s] infection rate … has fallen …. [T]he epidemic is far from over in Russia …. A […]
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“… Lukashenko cancelled his annual state of the nation speech … admitt[ing] … having the [COVID-19] coronavirus. … ‘Today you are meeting a man who managed to survive the coronavirus on his feet. … Asymptomatic. … No-one will die from coronavirus in our country[,] … my firm conviction judging by analysis not only of previous years. … Almost 97% of […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Samantha Berkhead – July 29, 2020) In a forest outside Yekaterinburg, pilgrims chant and wave banners in their annual midnight procession in honor of Nicholas II, the last Tsar of Russia and a saint in the Russian Orthodox Church. But this year’s pilgrimage to the spot where the emperor and his family were executed by […]
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For several months, Russian medics have been living with the constant stress of coronavirus. The Ministry of Health is talking about providing psychological help, but most doctors aren’t ready to talk to specialists. (Opendemocracy.net – Alla Konstantinova- July 29, 2020) Alla Konstantinova is a correspondent for MediaZona. [from original post:] This article was originally publishedby MediaZona. We translate it with […]
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U.S. officials have identified three English-language websites that they say Russia is using to spread disinformation about the coronavirus pandemic to exploit the U.S. struggle to contain the outbreak […]
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“Russia’s first potential COVID-19 vaccine [reportedly] will win local regulatory approval in the first half of August and be administered to frontline health workers soon afterwards …. [Moscow] state research facility … Gamaleya Institute [] completed early human trials of the adenovirus-based vaccine this month and expects to begin large-scale trials in August. … The speed at which Russia is […]
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“Declassified U.S. intelligence accuses Moscow of pushing propaganda through alternative websites as Russia refines techniques used in 2016.” “… Russian military intelligence, … the G.R.U., has used … ties with … Russian government information center[] InfoRos[] and other websites to push out English-language disinformation and propaganda about the pandemic, such as amplifying false Chinese arguments that the virus was created […]
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Two new surveys show the collapse of public trust in the powers that be …. [T]he level of trust in Russia today is lower than it has been in 15 years […]
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MOSCOW. July 22 (Interfax) – While the first Russian coronavirus vaccine has proven to be an efficacious and safe medication judging by the clinical trials that have been conducted, the Health Ministry will continue to collect information on its tolerability even after its registration, Russian Health Minister Mikhail Murashko said. “We see there is efficacy, and its safety has also […]
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“Vladimir Putin suggests country has weathered worst of pandemic, but virus not yet in retreat” “… Having rapidly manufactured a sense of calm to hold … Putin’s vote … grant[ing] him the right to remain in office … 12 years longer than previously[,] the Kremlin … now pin[s] … hopes on a fast-tracked coronavirus vaccine … to stop the virus […]
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The Russian military has said its experimental coronavirus vaccine which has not yet completed Phase II trials and is yet to begin Phase III is “ready” […]
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Senior Russian officials continued to be upbeat in claiming that Russia has passed the peak of the epidemic, but some analysts dispute that given rising rates of infection in several places around the country […]
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“… Putin has signed a ‘July Decree’ … outlin[ing] … national development goals up to 2030 …. risk[ing] … [failure to] fulfill[] … [his] previous economic platform due to the … COVID-19[] crisis. … [with] deadlines for [the] National Projects spending spree … being pushed from 2024 to 2030. [The new platform] outline[s] five development goals: 1) maintaining the population, […]
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Subject: Comment re: Times (UK) article on Russian Healthcare (JRL 2020-126) Date: Wed, 15 Jul 2020 From: Rudra Sil <rudysil@gmail.com> Yesterday’s JRL (2020-#126) included Mark Bennetts’ article, “Russia’s Health System is Dying on Its Feet,” originally published in The Times (UK) on February 6, 2020. I missed this article when it first came out, so I am very glad to […]
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MOSCOW. July 14 (Interfax) – Coronavirus vaccinations should be performed simultaneously all over the world, or else it will not be efficient, Russian Security Council Deputy Chairman Dmitry Medvedev said. “There’s no fully tested vaccine so far, most countries are working on it, and it’s clear that a vaccine will become available in the near future. I should say that, […]
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MOSCOW. July 14 (Interfax) – Russia registered 6,248 new Covid-19 cases and 175 deaths in the past 24 hours, the coronavirus response headquarters said in a statement on Tuesday. “Over the past day, 6,248 new Covid-19 cases were confirmed in 83 regions of Russia, including 1,531 active asymptomatic cases (24.5%),” the headquarters said. The cumulative number of coronavirus cases has […]
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“The White House [reportedly] has tapped Ryan Tully to be the top official on Europe and Russia at the National Security Council … the fifth person to occupy that job in … three and a half years …. Tully currently serves … as [NSC] senior adviser for arms control and deputy senior director for … [its] directorate on [WMD] …. […]
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A respected former Russian finance minister said the nation’s economy is stagnating and the government needs to invest more in education and health in order to drive growth […]
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“Volte-face comes shortly after vote that allows Russian president to extend his rule for another 16 years.” “… Putin has delayed his flagship … national investment plan by six years as the coronavirus pandemic pitches Russia into recession and leaves a hole in the federal budget. … Putin unveiled the so-called National Projects two years ago as a much-needed Rbs25.7tn […]
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MOSCOW. July 13 (Interfax) – The coronavirus mortality rate is way lower in Russia than it is in European countries with developed public healthcare systems, and the daily increase in new cases remains stable, Russian President Vladimir Putin said. “I should say that we are doing fairly well by one of our performance indicators which I view as key, i.e. […]
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“… Russia’s restrictions of movement and extensive use of surveillance technologies during the coronavirus pandemic have raised concerns about possible damage to civil society and community organizing. Has the coronavirus pandemic disrupted civil society development in Russia, or has this peculiar time drawn more attention to the need for citizen-run efforts to better life in the country? … [The] panel […]
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Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin announced Thursday that wearing masks will no longer be required outdoors from July 13 […]
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Around half of Russia’s doctors believe … official statistics undercount the number of coronavirus cases … one in 10 say the numbers are too high … Vedomosti … reported […]
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Shop vacancy rates in the Russian capital are set to hit a record high, and the end of the year will see a wave of bankruptcies in Russia’s services sector […]
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Russia opened its domestic tourist season … as it continues to grapple with the deadly coronavirus pandemic … the world’s third-highest number of infections […]
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MOSCOW. June 30 (Interfax) – Russia has recorded 6,693 new Covid-19 cases and 154 coronavirus-related deaths in the past 24 hours, the coronavirus response headquarters said in a statement on Tuesday. “Over the past day, 6,693 cases of the Covid-19 novel coronavirus infection were confirmed in 84 regions of Russia, including 2,019 active asymptomatic cases (30.2%),” the headquarters said. The […]
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“Doctors, equipment and basic supplies run short as cases climb; some facilities lack running water.” “… The episode at Karabanovo hospital offers a glimpse into the dysfunction and inefficiency that plagues Russia’s health-care system as the country fights the new coronavirus … the world’s third-highest caseload after the U.S. and Brazil. Many front-line medical workers in Russia say their safety […]
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