It seems that the two closest Russian allies and members of the Customs Union, Kazakhstan and Belarus, have almost diametrically opposite attitudes towards the situation.
Kazakhstan's two main cities of Almaty and Nur-Sultan went into lockdown yesterday. The country has reported only 32 coronavirus cases so far.
Aleksandr Lukashenko, the president of Belarus, however, comments on the situation as follows (translated via deepl):
Kazakhstan's two main cities of Almaty and Nur-Sultan went into lockdown yesterday. The country has reported only 32 coronavirus cases so far.
Aleksandr Lukashenko, the president of Belarus, however, comments on the situation as follows (translated via deepl):
I call this coronavirus nothing but psychosis and I will never retract it, because I have already went through many psychoses along with you. I am absolutely convinced that this is another such psychosis, which will be in someone's hand and in someone's detriment. But we must proceed from the situation, which is developing not only in our country, but also outside of it. Why am I acting like this? Because I am absolutely convinced that we can suffer more from panic than from the virus itself. The civilized world of our planet has gone completely insane! Politicians there are already beginning to advise and use all these processes to their advantage.