The popularity of Russian President Vladimir Putin has taken a blow after the country saw a record number of new coronavirus infections over the weekend.
Sunday saw 10,633 new confirmed cases of the disease, putting the total at 134,687, and meaning that Russia is now recording more new infections than any European country.
While Putin’s approval ratings have remained relatively stable, his trust ratings have been declining, with only 46 per cent of people surveyed in March saying they want to see Putin remain in power after his current term expires in 2024. The survey was done by the independent polling group Levada Centre.
The president’s trust rating, which according to The Daily Telegraph is seen as a more forward-looking metric than current approval ratings, was at 54 per cent last June, showing that it has been in decline for some time, likely compounded by his handling of the crisis.
The country is currently under a nation-wide lockdown, which The Kremlin extended until May 11, and has said that the government will begin relaxing measures on a region-by-region basis after this date.
Vladimir Putin has seen his trust ratings fall following dissatisfaction with the Russian government’s handling of the coronavirus crisis and as cases of the disease continue to rise
The government has offered little aid to its citizens compared to what other European countries have done during the coronavirus pandemic, with Putin choosing to distance himself from the crisis response and leaving it to regional leaders to manage.
Russia’s opposition leader, Alexel Navalny, has petitioned the Kremlin to broaden emergency payouts to Russians to and cease all taxes on small businesses. His petition has received over half a million supporting signatures.
While the government did announce some supportive measures, such as tax breaks and interest free loans, this has not been seen as enough with citizens, particularly outside of Moscow, wanting more help.
A Russian football player, Yevgeny Frolov, gave a stringing public rebuke of the government’s response to the crisis last week, crticising banks for not following through of Putin’s orders to give loans and the police for their heavy handedness.
Referring to Putin’s weekly address to the nation, which have frustrated many, Frolov said: ‘What the president says on television is all nonsense. There are no real actions. When talking to real businessmen, one can learn that banks will never issue soft loans and will not give a [loan] delay.
‘We are forced to stay at home, and there is no help from the state,’ he said. ‘We are being fined [for going out]. People have no money, and the average fine is 5,000 [rubles]. People are going a second month in a row without a salary. This is not the case in Europe. And we see how our police work: They just twist people’s hands or hit them in face and take them away.’
Frolov, who could be punished by his football club for his comments, compared the current situation to how life if Russia was in the middle ages under feudalism, and criticised lawmakers for not making any concessions of their own.
‘As in the days of serfdom, one has no rights or freedoms,’ he added. ‘You are a slave. At the same time, no lawmaker in the State Duma has offered to cut their own salaries.’
The number of new confirmed cases of the disease was 10,633 yesterday, putting the total at 134,687, meaning Russia is now recording more new infections than any European country
In Moscow, the epicentre of the crisis, people have been urged to stay at home despite warm weather, and has seen widespread testing and money thrown at new hospital beds and equipment.
But in other parts on the country which generally have lower living standards, there is a risk that the public health systems could become overwhelmed.
Doctors have been calling for more support saying they are underfunded and under equipped, and many have said that hospitals lack the basic necessities to treat patients.
In one appeal from the city of Ufa, around 700 miles east of Moscow, a group of doctors filmed a video of themselves urging officials to investigate what they said was a cover-up of an outbreak of the disease at a hospital in the city.
Doctors working inside the intensive care unit for people infected with coronavirus, at a hospital in Moscow, Russia, on Saturday
Putin will reportedly deploy helicopters and drones to enforce the lockdown, with Russia’s National Guard monitoring compliance with tough measures imposed in response to the pandemic.
Monday and Tuesday are legal holidays, and Saturday marks the 75th anniversary of the defeat of Nazi Germany – a day that typically sees mass gatherings.
Front-line medical workers have been hit hard with the Moscow mayor Sergei Sobyanin admitting around 2,000 suffering from coronavirus in the capital city.
Yesterday, it also emerged a third Russian doctor has plunged from a hospital window after complaining about medics facing intolerable coronavirus pressures.
There is concern that warm spring weather and a string of holidays could draw people in large numbers to leave home and gather in woodland parks.
Moscow has emerged as a hotspot for the virus in Russia, with the mayor earlier estimating from screening results that 2 per cent of the population has been hit – more than a quarter of a million people.
More than half of the new deaths announced yesterday were in Moscow – some 34.
‘About 1,000 people are currently ill, another 1,000 have recovered,’ Sobyanin said.
President Putin says the situation remains ‘very difficult’ with another 200,000-plus under medical supervision, suspected of contracting the disease in Russia.
Ambulance doctor Alexander Shulepov (left), 37, and ambulance paramedic Alexander Kosyakin, (right). Shulepov is fighting for his life with head injuries after taking part in in a video which claimed he was ordered to work despite testing positive for Covid-19
The mayor – who has become a point man for the government’s fightback against coronavirus – hit back at claims that Russia is concealing the scale of infections.
‘If the authorities conceal something from them, clarify it incorrectly, or are trying to gloss something over, and people do not know the true picture, they will fail,’ he warned. ‘A lot depends on our behaviour. The behaviour of each person.’
‘If people do not understand why the self-isolation regime was imposed, the reason for these measures, nothing and no extra restrictive measures will keep them in check.’
Dr Alexander Shulepov, 37, is fighting for his life with head injuries after taking part in in a video which claimed he was ordered to work despite testing positive for Covid-19. He became the third Russian doctor to fall from a window in recent weeks.
The 37-year-old and his colleagues also warned about PPE shortages in Voronezh city. Later – lying in a coronavirus hospital bed – Shulepov made a second video to retract the claims amid suspicions he was pressured to do so.
A medical worker leading a woman inside the Novomoskovsky multipurpose medical centre for patients with suspected coronavirus infection in Moscow today
On Saturday, while being treated at Novousmanskaya district hospital, the experienced ambulance doctor plunged from a second floor window sustaining skull fractures. He is now in a grave condition.
Two senior women doctors in Russia have died recently after falling from hospital windows amid reports they had challenged their superiors over a lack of PPE for coronavirus patients.
Defence officials have admitted that the virus is spreading in the army with more than 2,900 service personnel including cadets and civilians now hit.
In Moscow, some 4,000 hotel rooms close to hospitals have been taken over for medical staff to prevent them travelling home across the city, risking a great infection spread.
An alarming hotspot has emerged as the Chayanda in Siberia gas depot where more than 3,000 workers are believed to be infected, according to regional official Olga Balabkina.
A mobile hospital is being built at the site, in Russia’s coldest region, Yakutia. Some 10,000 workers are at the site and vulnerable to infection.
More than 1,200 are infected at a another gas construction above the Arctic Circle in Murmansk region.
Gas giant Gazprom flew in 200,000 items of protection to overcome a shortage in hospitals in St Petersburg.