'He is failing': Putin's approval rating slides as Covid-19 grips Russia
by Shaun Walker from on (#53AR3)
Backseat president announces easing of lockdown on day of record high infection numbers
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.
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