THREAD: Contrast Putin's comments today (below) with all of the armchair commentary about how #coronavirus is good for authoritarian leaders 1/X https://twitter.com/XSovietNews/status/1246068414105305096

Russian reality doesn't correspond with that assessment. Instead what one sees (mostly) is a glaring lack of decisive leadership, focus and coordination of the crisis response by Putin. 2/X

Twice this week Putin stated that it's up to regional leaders to figure out how to handle the pandemic. Today he is claiming that there's somehow so much variation/complexity in Russia's sclerotic, monopolized economy that it would be wrong for him to dictate crisis response 3/X

At senior levels of the bureaucracy, we see timidity and caution as they wait from signals from higher up about how to respond. These quotes from BBC Russian Service of bureaucratic paralysis provide a vivid illustration https://www.bbc.com/russian/features-52101191 4/X

Russia had the benefit of a 2-3 week window before the rate of #coronavirus infection started to grow exponentially. As in the US, that opportunity was totally squandered. Blame lies at the doors of the Kremlin (or WH) where there's only one real decider. 5/X

The result on the ground is painful to watch (eg the footage of hapless soldiers crammed together getting ready for the big parade for the 75th anniversary of WWII Victory Day). https://twitter.com/RALee85/status/1245630198885650432

Same goes for these photos of Central Asian migrant workers stranded at a Moscow airport or crowds of oil workers queuing up in Siberia to have their temperatures taken 7/X https://twitter.com/steveswerdlow/status/1245071695850770432?s=20 https://twitter.com/ASLuhn/status/1244571801117753344?s=20

Even a casual scan of Russian media provides details about a sagging healthcare system that is in way, shape or form prepared to deal with the onslaught that's starting to hit 8/Х

Yet no one is really talking about these issues let alone the Kremlin's involvement in an oil market meltdown (which will cause untold human misery in countries like Nigeria or Iraq that rely on oil export revenues). 9/X

Last thought: this backdrop is part of why I find the Kremlin's recent PR theatrics (eg the aid shipments to the US, Italy, and Serbia) so bizarre and ill-considered. END

ADDENDUM: Perfect video coda about Putin's hands-off approach to #coronavirus. (The footage is drawn from a splashy recent TASS interview entitled "20 Questions" on the lessons of Putin's 20 year tenure) https://twitter.com/RussiaNoContext/status/1246091698259791876