: :inin Kyiv (EET)

Amid COVID-19 Pandemic, Russia’s Putin Missing in Action, Critics Say


In 1941, when German forces blitzed their way into the Soviet Union and destroyed the Russian air force in the western borderlands within 48 hours, then-Soviet dictator Josef Stalin retreated to his dacha and saw no one for several days.

The memory of Stalin’s weeklong seclusion is now being invoked in the Russian capital by Muscovite critics of President Vladimir Putin, who say he has been largely absent as Moscow battles to curb the spread of the coronavirus, and St. Petersburg readies for a surge in cases.

Russian authorities confirmed 3,388 new coronavirus cases Wednesday, bringing the country’s …read more

Source:: Voice of America

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