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This article is about the social impact of theCOVID-19 pandemic in Russia.
On 5 March, First Deputy Prime MinisterAndrey Belousov announced the cancellation of theSt. Petersburg International Economic Forum which was due to be held from 3 to 6 June 2020.[1]
On 11 March, Russian Defence MinisterSergey Shoygu cancelled the Moscow International Security Conference which had been scheduled for 22 to 23 April.[1]
On 17 March,TASS reported that all football, hockey and basketball games were suspended until 10 April.[2] This was later extended to 31 May.[3] On the same day,UEFA confirmed postponingEuro 2020 until summer 2021, one of the venues of which isKrestovsky Stadium in Saint Petersburg.[4]
Despite the fact that aconscription started on 1 April, conscripts won't be sent to duty stations until 20 May.[5]
On 16 April, President Putin postponed the2020 Victory Day Parade.[6] On 26 May, President Putin announced that the 2020 Victory Day Parade would be held on 24 June, coinciding with theMoscow Victory Parade of 1945.[7]
On 20 July, organisers for the "Immortal Regiment" march postponed the event to 9 May 2021.[8]
On 17 March, the leadership of theRussian Orthodox Church publishedInstructions to rectors of parishes and monasteries’ town churches, abbots and abbesses of the monasteries of the Russian Orthodox Church over the threat of spreading coronavirus infection (in English), which said it had been approved by the ROC'sHoly Synod and instructed the ROC's clergy to use disposablecups,gloves, andfacial tissue during sacraments and celebrations, disinfect church plates and premises regularly, and refrain from offering thehand for kissing.[9] A nearly identical Russian-languageInstructions were addressed to the clergy of theMoscow diocese and said it had been approved by thePatriarch of Moscow and all Rus'.[10] When in St. Petersburg attendance of places of worship was restricted for the public on 26 March, the Moscow Patriarchate's lawyer deemed it unlawful.[11]
On 29 March, the ROC'sPatriarch Kirill delivered a sermon in theCathedral of Christ the Saviour that urged people to refrain from visiting church, citing the life ofSt. Mary of Egypt.[12] On 3 April, Kirill issued an encyclical for the clergy and faithful of the "dioceses in the territory of the Russian Federation" urging the clergy to conduct church services without laypeople's presence.[13] As the city of Moscow decided to tighten lockdown measures starting from 13 April, and following a request from chief sanitary doctor of Moscow, the Patriarch's Vicar instructed that church services in the city diocese be held without public (laypeople).[14] A similar decision was taken in St. Petersburg.[15] As of 16 April 2020, according toRBK, 42 out of 85 federal subjects including Moscow, Moscow Oblast and Saint Petersburg, issued instructions to close places of worship for general public, which would extend into the Easter period, which in theOrthodox Church was to begin on 19 April.[16] Equivocation and occasionally contradictory instructions issued by the Moscow Patriarchate's top officials undermined the authority of the Church's leadership while restrictive measures caused opposition on the part of conservative circles of the ROC's congregation.[17][18] On Easter Sunday, the degree of admission restrictions, if any, to religious ceremonies varied significantly from region to region (federal subject), the ROC's branches outside the RF territory given free rein to find appropriate arrangement with local authorities.[19] While Patriarch Kirill presided over the Easter night service in Moscow'scathedral church with no laypeople in attendance, the ROC's most veneratedSt Trinity monastery in theMoscow region, which is under the Patriarch's direct spiritual authority, defied his directions by conducting Easter services as normal. This and similar incidents in other major monasteries led to massive spread of the COVID-19 infection in a number of the ROC's monasteries and seminaries in Russia as well as inBelarus andUkraine.[18][20][21][22][23]
Various Muslim communities closed their mosques. In Moscow, theCathedral Mosque, theOld Mosque, and the Memorial Mosque onPoklonnaya Hill closed on 18 March.[24] On 23 March, mosques inCrimea andSevastopol were shut down.[25] On the next day, all the mosques inKrasnodar Krai andAdygea were closed as well.[26] Same measures were planned in Dagestan.[27]
On 18 March, RabbiBerel Lazar closed theBolshaya Bronnaya Synagogue,Maryina Roshcha Synagogue, and Zhukovka Jewish Centre.[28] Eleven members of the community were hospitalised, with four COVID-19 cases confirmed, the first one being a rabbi who felt sick afterPurim celebration on 9 March.[29][30] On 24 March, RabbiBerel Lazar and theFederation of Jewish Communities recommended that all synagogues to close down and the community centres and Jewish schools switch todistance education.[31]
text was copied from2020_coronavirus_pandemic_in_Russia on February 1, 2021. Please see the history of that page for full attribution.