Published 09:27 IST, June 15th 2020
Vladimir Putin takes jibe at US & Trump's handling of Covid; says Russia did it better
Russian President Vladimir Putin claimed his country's pandemic response was better than the US', alleging "party interest" were put above society's in the US
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As the COVID-19 pandemic has taken the world hostage killing over 430,000 people from out of over 8 million cases worldwide, countries have started drawing comparisons amongst each other over their COVID-19 response.
With the United States being the worst-hit country by the pandemic, Russian President Vladimir Putin has taken pride in saying that his country's response to the pandemic was better than the United States and in doing so, he hinted that Trump administration's political interests got in the way of the combating the deadly disease. Putin hinted at Trump administration and said "party interests" had affected the fight against the pandemic.
While speaking with a state-owned television channel on Sunday, the Russian President said that America's ineffective COVID response and the widespread anti-racism protests across the country depict the “deep-rooted internal crises” in the country.
"We are emerging out of the pandemic situation with minimal losses, but this is not happening in the US," said Putin
He also affirmed that authorities at federal and regional level worked without any disagreements unlike what happened in the United States. "I can't imagine someone in the Russian government or regions saying we are not going to do what the government or President says. It seems to me that the problem in the United States, in this case, the party interests are considered above those of society's as a whole," Putin said.
Putin's statement comes as the US remains the worst-hit country by the pandemic with the infections nearing the 2.1 million mark and over 115,000 fatalities, followed by Brazil which has reported over 867,000 Covid-19 cases of which over 43,000 have succumbed to the virus, while Russia comes third with over 528,000 infections and fatalities over 6,900. However, the accuracy of Russian statistics remains a debatable subject.
09:27 IST, June 15th 2020