Coronavirus, Russia , Public Health Diagnosing Russia’s COVID-19 response

Despite the Russian government’s assertions that it has the COVID-19 crisis under control, the outbreak is in the beginning stages in the country and Vladimir Putin’s political fate may rest on how he responds to the crisis, according to three experts.

“Clearly the crisis has reached proportions which Putin didn’t expect,” said Alexander Vershbow, former U.S. ambassador to Russia, during a Perry World House (PWH) virtual event on Tuesday. “And with the rise in the caseloads and the increasing impact on Russian society, this is looking more and more like a crisis that could actually begin to shake some of the foundations of the Russian system and the Putin system.”

Vershbow, PWH Wolk Distinguished Visiting Fellow, was joined by Yevgenia Albats, editor of Russian-language magazine The New Times, and PWH Visiting Fellow and Philadelphia Inquirer “Worldview” columnist Trudy Rubin in the Zoom panel discussion, hosted by PWH interim director Michael Horowitz.

Read more in Penn Today >>