The Kremlin has dismissed research findings which showed Russians were more likely to be financially suffering as a result of the coronavirus than households in other countries.
A Nielsen survey, published Monday, found 53% of Russian respondents said they were worse off as a result of the crisis — that was twice the level recorded by the same survey in September and above the global average of 46%.
But Presidential spokesperson Dmitry Peskov rejected the results as “incorrect,” in a briefing with reporters, the Kommersant business site reported.
“We have different data. We consider the conclusions reached by this publication’s authors to be incorrect,” Kommersant cited him as saying.
Peskov acknowledged the economic hardship inflicted by the pandemic, but asserted Russians had been no worse affected than those in other countries.
Official government statistics show real disposable incomes — a closely-watched indicator of overall living standards — dropped 3.5% in 2020, hitting their lowest level in a decade.
The Kremlin is also considering the introduction of U.S.-style food stamps, Peskov said Monday. Food prices have accelerated rapidly in recent months, forcing President Vladimir Putin to introduce a cap on retail prices for some products and urge supermarkets not to raise prices.
Siberian Village Gets Internet Tower After Student Climbs Tree for Zoom Classes
Authorities in Siberia have installed an internet tower in a remote village after a local college student went viral for having to climb a birch tree in the woods to attend his Zoom lectures.
Alexei Dudoladov, who goes by Omskiy Kolkhoznik (Farmer from Omsk) on TikTok, rose to popularity for live-streaming from the birch tree and sharing the realities of rural Russian life.
In November, he posted a video appeal to his regional governor, saying his village only gets 2G signal and that the only way he can get adequate internet access is by climbing the 8-meter tree located 300 meters from his home. When Russian universities switched to remote learning last fall due to the coronavirus, Dudoladov said he had to sit in the tree to attend his mandatory Zoom lectures, often in cold weather.
After Dudoladov’s video went viral, local authorities vowed to fix the situation for the blogger and his 39 fellow villagers.
In an Instagram post on Tuesday, Dudoladov thanked everyone who helped accomplish this goal.
“Any goal can be achieved! The main thing is to work slowly but surely toward it. Success will come sooner or later,” Dudoladov wrote in his post.
It’s one small step for humankind, but one giant leap for a TikToker in a birch tree.
