Russian President Vladimir Putin has praised his country's response to the coronavirus pandemic, saying that the close adherence of local authorities to central government guidance was responsible for the low death toll relative to the number of infections.
Russia has over half a million confirmed virus cases, The Guardian reports, but only 6,984 recorded deaths in comparison to, for instance, the United States, where over 115,000 people have died with just four times the number of reported cases. The official Russian death toll has been contested by international observers.
"I can't imagine someone in the government or regions saying we are not going to do what the government or president say. It seems to me that the problem (in the United States) is that group, in this case party interests, are put above those of society’s as a whole, above the interests of the people," Putin said.