The different responses to the first wave of COVID-19 in Belarus, Russia, and Ukraine between March and June 2020 largely reflected the political regime, economic structure and social conditions in each country, Ekaterina Pierson-Lyzhina and Oleksii Kovalenko explain in their research.
The personalist authoritarian regime in Belarus partly explains the state’s irresponsible policies, stemming from president Lukashenka’s personal views on COVID-19. The Russian and Ukrainian authorities took the pandemic more seriously and this met greater satisfaction among citizens. In dealing with the pandemic, they solicited the help of the oligarchs. While – volunteers, as well as initiatives by civil and private business, – played an important role in all three countries, their role was crucial in Belarus where there was a denial of the crisis at the state level. In both Russia and Belarus, where national votes were held during the first wave of the pandemic, the epidemiological situation was used as an excuse for political restrictions and fraudulent vote counting.
In Ukraine, the state authorities relied on the oligarchs to a great extent in dealing with the pandemic, though the voluntary sector, which developed considerably after 2014, made an important contribution as well. The imminent local elections in Ukraine contributed to episodes of disobedience by city mayors towards central government’s lockdown orders. Despite these acts of disobedience, in general management of the response to COVID-19 in Ukraine was no less centralised than in Belarus and Russia where the state authorities gave regional and local authorities some discretion in dealing with the crisis.
Read our full research study “The coronavirus outbreak in Belarus, Russia, and Ukraine: Responses by the state, business and civil society.”
