This sounds disturbingly familiar:
In a surprise announcement on Monday, Putin said it was time after six weeks to gradually lift nationwide restrictions that had forced many people to work from home and businesses to temporarily close.
[…] Putin on Monday unveiled new support measures for businesses and for families with children who have seen their livelihoods devastated. He said unemployment had doubled to 1.4 million in a month and he wanted to try to stop it spiralling higher.
Dmitry Gudkov, an opposition politician, said Putin’s easing decision shifted responsibility and potential blame for future unpopular decisions on to regional governors, whom the Russian leader has told to implement measures to contain the virus.
I don’t see any cause/effect at work here. Both “leaders” have downplayed the severity of the crisis, partly to save face and partly to save money. Both “leaders” have a deeply vested interest in keeping their country’s economy from further decline. Both “leaders” value money and power over the health and lives of regular people, who are the real drivers of their respective economies.
And now, both “leaders” have senior officials who’ve contracted coronavirus:
Dmitry Peskov, Russian President Vladimir Putin's longtime spokesperson, had been hospitalized with coronavirus.
Peskov told Russian state news agency TASS that the last time he had seen the President in person was "over a month ago," but the news follows the hospitalization of Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin for coronavirus and is likely to intensify concerns about Putin's own health.
In fact, the Reuters piece mentions that Peskov was actually the fifth senior official to contract the virus.
This news came on the heels of a fire at a hospital that claimed five lives and caused 150 people to evacuate:
The St. Petersburg fire broke out on the sixth floor of an intensive care unit at the St. George Hospital, killing five coronavirus patients connected to ventilating equipment, the TASS news agency reported, citing medical personnel.
According to initial findings, the fire may have been caused by a short circuit in a ventilator or its malfunction, state news agencies said. The Investigative Committee, Russia's top law enforcement body, said a criminal investigation had been opened into the matter.
If the ventilator caused the fire, it’s a double tragedy — the device that’s helping patients who are drowning in their own blood to breathe was the cause of their deaths. Even more tragically, it wasn’t the first Russian hospital fire that was fatal:
Tuesday's fire in St. Petersburg was the second fatal incident in days involving a hospital treating coronavirus patients. On Saturday, a blaze erupted in an intensive-care wing of a Moscow coronavirus hospital, killing one person and forcing the evacuation of patients, Russian state news agencies and officials stated.
So in case you were thinking, “I bet even Russians have it better than we do,” think again. Both “leaders” prioritize their country’s economic outlook ahead of their people’s lives. The U.S. isn’t the only country that values profits over people.
Before you vote in the poll, check this out:
After seeing this, I voted for Vlad.