#Russia and the #Coronavirus crisis

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought the whole world to a dangerous abyss. Both US and European Union – two major global economics – nervously calculate their current and coming losses. The figures are tough and scary. Recess in all branches of industry, business and other vital spheres of life is obvious, plus enormously growing unemployment,

Almost the same situation exists in Russia. One should add low oil prices to a long list of hardships that the vibrant Russian economy will have to deal with very soon. Analysts predict that Russia will suffer the worst (since 1992) GDP fall of up to 20%, while similar estimates regarding the US and EU are balancing at 7-12%. At the same time, many Russian economists are visibly discreet in their forecasts regarding the sad consequences of the situation in the country. They cautiously claim that all previous steps and actions from the government were “quite sufficient” and “helpful”.

But being compared to a size of relevant allocations made by leading Western states like Germany, Great Britain and USA the estimated spendings which not exceed 3% of Russian GDP look rather modest. Former Vice-Premier and one of the leading Russian economy experts Arkady Dvorkovich recently said that “the crisis in Russia has only started and it hasn’t touched yet the major branches of the country’s economy”. That means that the worst negative developments are yet to come in a few months.

The latest and most surprising development which is actively being discussed these days in Moscow is the news that Russian head of Government Mikhail Mishustin had been placed to hospital with positive COVID -19 diagnosis.

Moscow – the main economic centre of Russia has the worst record regarding the new virus spread. Almost half of the Covid-19 cases (86,000 out of 166,000 in the country), deaths (866 of 1,537) and discharged patients (8,500 of 21,300) were recorded in the Russian capital.

Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin together with Russian Government takes urgent measures to curb and lighten possible economic and social discomfort and losses in the Russian main city.

While looking surprisingly empty, with closed shopping molls, cafes, restaurants, barbershops and most governmental institutions, Moscow in fact leads a rather active business life which becomes obvious during rush hours (early morning and late at night) with crowds at all subway entrances. People present their so-called “passes” without which one will be fined by authorities for illegally leaving home. Millions of Moscow inhabitants are still working to make their living, inevitably taking a huge risk of being infected with the new virus. The figures of newly detected cases are impressive and exceed 10.000 per day.

President Putin and members of Russian government and heads of regions are discussing necessary relief measures on a daily basis. On the major questions, there remains the poor condition of many hospitals, shortage of tests, medical masks and protective suites. Many medical colleges students have been conscripted recently to help their colleges at hospitals. There is sad news coming almost every day of tragic deaths among doctors and nurses around the country.

The latest statement by Russian Health Minister Mikhail Murashko, who has denied that the country had already passed the pandemic peak, prove that Russian officials are very accurate with making positive predictions. President Putin said that an unnecessary rush with lifting strict quarantine measures could be detrimental: “The price of a small mistake is the security, life and well-being of our people.”