Most Muscovites, however, have more or less obeyed. In a country with a long history of legal nihilism, the mayor’s stay-at-home pleas were not expected to gain much traction. The rules, announced just as Moscow was shaking off the last icy chill of a long winter, make no provision for exercise, except for pet-owners, who are allowed to walk their dogs within 100 yards of their homes. All parks, restaurants and stores - other than those selling food, medicine and other essential items - are closed. Sobyanin, have put the city in a lockdown more severe than those imposed on New York and London. Restrictions announced in March by the mayor, Mr. Take care of your health and do not allow the infection of fellow citizens.” We ask you not to leave your home unnecessarily. Police cars, meanwhile, cruise the streets, blaring a taped message on an endless loop: “Respected citizens. ![]() A flyby over the city by warplanes and military helicopters is still on for Saturday, but Moscow’s mayor, Sergei Sobyanin, has told residents not to go out to watch it. Copies of the red banner that was raised above the Reichstag in Berlin in 1945 fly on every silent street. The grand party has been canceled, but this becalmed and still beguilingly beautiful city is all decked out for a big celebration. ![]() The timing has left the city in a strangely expectant yet suspended state. The pandemic arrived with full force in Moscow just as the Russian capital was preparing to celebrate Victory Day on May 9, a joyous annual holiday filled with national pride that transcends all of Russia’s many divisions. And Russia awoke from its glorious, morbid memories of the Red Army’s defeat of Nazi Germany 75 years ago to confront an insidious enemy that kept getting closer and more menacing. So, the names kept coming, day after day, mourning Russia’s wartime martyrs at a staggering rate of more than 6,000 a minute.īut at the end of March, when the coronavirus crisis could no longer be glossed over, the names suddenly vanished from TV. The Kremlin offered soothing words about the pandemic, saying that Russia would not suffer too badly. The country’s largest cigarette maker, British American Tobacco South Africa, threatened legal action, but decided against it for now.Īs the coronavirus began its silent but relentless march on Moscow in February, the names of the millions of Russian soldiers killed in the far deadlier horrors of World War II were already appearing, one by one, on state television, scrolling down the screen in a harrowing torrent. The ban has set off a debate about civil liberties, while angering tobacco companies. And the combination of risk and shortage has made prices soar. What some dealers sell as cigarettes are fakes. “I feel like I’m buying cocaine,” said a young woman who, by word of mouth, found someone to sell her cigarettes - though not her preferred brand. Formerly law-abiding citizens knock on strangers’ doors to make furtive transactions, trying to avoid fines or arrest. It kept the prohibition on May 1, when it eased restrictions on people and businesses, though they remain among the tightest anywhere.Īfter six weeks, even many of the people who had stocked up have run out, fueling the underground trade. In imposing one of the world’s strictest coronavirus lockdowns in late March, South Africa took the extraordinary step of banning the sale of alcohol and tobacco. Just don’t try to buy a cigarette or a drink.
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