Biosecurity

'He is failing': Putin's approval rating slides as Covid-19 grips Russia

A day of record high coronavirus infection numbers is an odd time to announce a route out of lockdown, but that is what Vladimir Putin did on Monday as he announced that the “non-working days” imposed by the Kremlin at the end of March would come to an end from Tuesday.

“We have a long and difficult process ahead of us with no room for mistakes,” said Putin by video link from his residence outside Moscow on a day when the country registered more than 11,000 new infections. Russia now has the second fastest rate of infections in the world after the US. The prime minister, Mikhail Mishustin, is among those in hospital with the virus.

Rather than an invitation to Russians to stream back into the streets, however, Monday’s announcement seemed to be the latest gambit in Putin’s plan to delegate responsibility for tackling the crisis to local leaders, who he said would make their own decisions on when to end lockdown.