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HEALTH-VIRUS-RUSSIA-LEAD
Putin has ‘disinfection tunnel’ to protect him from coronavirus
MOSCOW, June 17, 2020 (BSS/AFP) – Visitors meeting Russian President
Vladimir Putin at his country residence must first pass through a
walk-through device that sprays them with disinfectant to protect him
from the coronavirus, officials said.
The measures have provoked anger from some observers, given the
authorities have ruled it is safe enough to hold nationwide referendum
on July 1.
Putin has been self-isolating at his Novo-Ogaryovo residence
outside Moscow under lockdown although he made a public appearance
without a mask at an outdoor event on the June 12 Russia Day holiday.
As part of precautions to protect the president, visitors walk
through the device and get sprayed from above and the side, a video
posted Tuesday evening on Twitter by Kremlin pool journalists from RIA
Novosti state news agency showed.
Presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that two of the
disinfection machines had also been installed in the Kremlin.
“They were installed during the height of the pandemic,” he said,
adding that anti-virus measures still in place at the Kremlin were
“justified and understandable where the president is concerned”.
The authorities in Penza region east of Moscow where the device was
made boasted that it “ensured the safety of the head of government and
all those who visit him.”
The Penza regional government said the president’s staff got in
touch with the manufacturing company, which until the virus outbreak
specialised in automatic cleaning equipment for industrial use.
– Virus test before meeting Putin –
The device includes facial recognition technology and can take
people’s temperatures, according to the manufacturers.
The Kremlin has imposed a range of measures to protect Putin,
including regular virus testing of the leader and all those who come
into contact with him.
Visitors have to take a virus test before meeting Putin, his spokesman said.
The president began holding video conference calls with officials
in April, although there have been a few exceptions. On May 12 for
example, he was shown meeting in person with the chief of oil giant
Rosneft, Igor Sechin.
Despite these measures, some in Putin’s circle have caught the
virus, including Peskov, who said, however, that he had not met the
president recently enough to have infected him.
In an apparent close brush with the virus in March, Putin was shown
on television shaking hands with the chief doctor at a Moscow virus
hospital while neither was wearing a mask. The doctor, Denis
Protsenko, soon afterwards tested positive.
The elaborate precautions protecting Putin sparked anger from some
as the Kremlin has ruled it is safe to hold a national vote on July 1
on constitutional changes that would allow him to serve another
consecutive Kremlin term.
“Let them install this know-how at every polling station and then
hold a vote,” wrote a commentator, Aleks, on the website of
Komsomolskaya Pravda tabloid.
BSS/AFP/MRU/1800hrs