Host Elena Rykovtseva began by noting that politics no longer exists without the virus. Belkovsky remarked that it is difficult to step outside the "general line on the coronavirus": "The moment you deviate from the general line on the coronavirus — just a minute, the main thing is the coronavirus, why discuss anything else?"
According to him, Putin "seemed to have disappeared at the start of the fight against the coronavirus," he faced criticism, and now he addresses the nation more often. At the same time, the analyst believes there is nothing fundamentally new in these speeches. He compared them to Queen Elizabeth II's address to the British people, which he considered better prepared, noting that it was only the fourth of her reign.
Cumans, Pechenegs and Speechwriters
Belkovsky analyzed a passage from the address mentioning the Cumans and Pechenegs, pointing out that it is a quote from a speech by the lawyer Fyodor Plevako. According to him, the original also mentioned Tatars and Poles, but they "could not be touched." The analyst noted that few understand the context, so the joke fell flat. He cited press secretary Dmitry Peskov, who said Putin "obtained this fragment himself," and added: "As a former speechwriter myself, I can say what it means when a speechwriter was under the influence to stick a quote from Plevako in there."
Belkovsky also recounted the claim by Mikhail Kovalchuk, president of the Kurchatov Institute, that the coronavirus was artificially created by Americans to manipulate the world. According to the analyst, this yields a recipe for the authorities: "to isolate themselves from American influence further and further."
Money and Small Business
Grudinin linked the frequent addresses to the president's desire to reassure people and show that the situation is under control. He praised the additional payments to doctors and the order to the government to develop support measures within five days, though he admitted that effective measures are not yet visible: "Russia takes a long time to harness, but rides fast."
Belkovsky, by contrast, stated that there is no strategy to support small and medium-sized businesses and called this a reflection of Putin's approach, who, according to the analyst, in an interview with TASS called small entrepreneurs "petty crooks." In his view, the authorities proceed from the assumption that taxpayers are large companies, and the rest are consumers of what they earn.
Responding to a listener receiving a minimum pension, Belkovsky said that to the question "should we rejoice or weep," the answer is "weep," calling the situation humiliating.
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