Vladimir Putin is no longer listening. He has his eyes fixed on his pen, rolling it on his desk. He moves his fingers, the resumes, the recovery of a boost, and suddenly it escapes at the top of its leaves. He leans forward, pouting upset, and, on the other hand, gets it. In this may 6, during those long seconds, his minister of Health, Mikhail Mourachko, recites the digits of the health situation and defends his action. “Highly respected Vladimir Vladimirovich, we sent a letter of information to the regions… “, But Putin seems to be elsewhere. Deeply annoyed by these video conferencing with day-to-day arranged with his subordinates.
Since the 14th of march, the date on which it was stated that the epidemic was ” under control “, it is true that everything has slipped. Postponing the referendum intended to give him a presidency until 2036. Swept aside in the great military parade of 9 may. Forgotten its rate of popularity wonderful. At the beginning of march, Putin is even pulls a bullet in the foot by breaking an oil exploration deal with saudi Arabia. Result ? A falling prices and the risk of its federal budget, whose revenues depend up to 50 % of the oil. As for the Covid-19, it sends to the hospital four members of his government, including Prime minister Mikhail Michoustine. But his spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, at his side for the past two decades.
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Promise of gifts
A spring of cursed. Then, to chase away the bad luck, Putin spring to an old recipe : to reserve the good news and discard. The sequence will start when its Prime minister, appointed in January, proving to have been tested positive for the coronavirus. “We will take no final decision without your opinions and your involvement,” he said to her in front of his giant screen, while wishing him a good recovery. Under-heard : “If they fail, you will bear the responsibility. “And then, over days and weeks, Putin multiplies the promise of gifts. With the highlight being a premium of $ 300 to $ 1000 for the nursing staff. Finally, on 12 may, he announced “for the country and all sectors of activity” the end of ” the time off “, a phrase he prefers to that of containment. Except that the happy event arouses perplexity. It occurs on the day that sets the record for the number of dead (to this day, officially 300, 000 cases and 2 837 deaths). Should they stay home ? Go to his work ? Nothing is clear. Suddenly, the mayor of Moscow, Sergueï Sobianine, plays spoilsport and invites the public to continue the containment. It allows a measure of transparency by stating that the number of Muscovites affected by the Covid-19 would be three times higher than the official statistics.
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Putin leaves say. And behaves as if the matter does not concern. “He considers that it is not of his level and that it is a functioning bureaucratic, emphasizes the political scientist Tatiana Stanovaya. He stands at a distance because he wants to preserve this image of great leader and visionary that he is forging. “Give up one of its major principles, the vertical of power. Because it designates the new leaders of the management epidemic : the governors. Those which he took away any prerogative for the last twenty years. By removing first direct election and then restoring a dummy to eventually appoint at his leisure. However, this is now at the front of the disease. “The territory is vast “, argues Putin. Not a fake. Problem ? These local dignitaries have little means. First, because of their lack of medical experts. Then, because the corruption siphons off the bulk of federal aid and local taxes.
of Course, a law “Covid-19” allows them to lend money between them. But, apart from Moscow, no region has the ability to play donors. And yet, Putin is the threat. “If something is not done in time, I will consider this as a criminal negligence. “As a result, three leaders of the region (Komi, Arkhangelsk, and Kamchatka) have taken the fear and signed their resignation. The other drive to view. As Gleb Nikitin, governor of Nizhny Novgorod, prepared to lift the restrictions in spite of the infection rates the highest in the country after those of Moscow and Saint-Petersburg.
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“The medical facilities are in a horrible state”
And what good news may they to give to the tsar ? “The medical facilities are in a horrible state “, already acknowledged by the minister of Finance, Anton Siluanov, before the epidemic. Since, doctors are fleeing the ship by the hundreds. Novosibirsk, Omsk, but also in Kaliningrad, where 350 practitioners refuse to exercise in front of patients Covid-19. In question ? The shortage of materials and the danger. The Russian doctors would thus be sixteen times more likely to die of coronavirus that their foreign counterparts facing the same epidemic.
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If, at least, the premium fell ! Not even. Promised at the end of April, they have never been paid. Still a mysterious evaporation… On the $ 343 million allocated by Moscow to the regions, only 57 million dollars have been spent. However, the amounts are not at the height of health issues. “Putin had planned to increase the minimum social benefits just before the referendum on the constitutional reform,” continued the expert Tatyana Stanovaya, and he always think to be able to do when the election date will be known. This is why it proves to be efficient. “
In the meantime, the grumbling mounts. A petition collects more than 100,000 signatures of health care providers. In the Novosibirsk region, the paramedics even threaten to start a hunger strike. That matter, the councilors are required to send signs of hope in the Kremlin. Tatiana Stanovaya concludes : “They don’t have the choice, this crisis makes Putin very irritable. “
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