Current Time is the Russian-language TV and digital network run by RFE/RL.
Current Time has spoken to spouses and close colleagues of medical staff who have died from COVID-19 while caring for others infected by the coronavirus.
President Vladimir Putin has acknowledged a "complicated" situation in Russia's southern republic of Daghestan after a local mufti described the region's battle against COVID-19 as a "catastrophe."
Largely unseen footage of the funeral and official mourning following the death of Soviet leader Josef Stalin is featured in a new documentary, State Funeral, by Ukrainian director Sergei Loznitsa. It's being shown on Current Time, the Russian-language network led by RFE/RL in cooperation with VOA. The mourning events were held at factories, on collective farms, town squares, and in meeting halls across the Soviet Union.
Russia has suspended the use of a model of domestically-made ventilators after they were linked to hospital fires that killed COVID-19 patients in Moscow and St. Petersburg. The Aventa-M ventilators were also included in a high-profile delivery of Russian medical equipment sold to the United States last month but have not been used there.
The World Health Organization’s representative in Russia has downplayed doubts about the country’s coronavirus statistics even as new public data suggest authorities may be undercounting death toll from the pandemic.
Volunteer cyclists in the Kyrgyz capital, Bishkek, have been delivering critical insulin to diabetes patients self-isolating in their homes during the COVID-19 pandemic.
In Russia, emergency crews rushed to a St. Petersburg hospital on May 12 where a fire reportedly killed five COVID-19 patients. The Interfax news agency reported that a faulty ventilator had caught fire "right before the doctor's eyes."
Central Asia's largest bazaar has been closed for a month now, causing hunger and poverty for some 50,000 people in Bishkek who worked there before COVID-19 struck. Some of these people live on-site in shipping containers, while others live at an informal shantytown on a garbage dump near the giant marketplace in the Kyrgyz capital.
Russian funeral homes and undertakers have been adapting to new regulations governing the burial or cremation of COVID-19 victims. Meanwhile, mourners are being offered the chance to attend funeral services online.
A 97-year-old Russian World War II veteran has been inspired by the fund-raising efforts of Captain Tom Moore. She says she can't walk around a garden to gather donations like the 100-year-old British veteran did, but she is posting war stories online every day to raise money for the families of Russian medics who have died fighting COVID-19.
The Ukrainian government promised that all medical personnel would be tested for COVID-19 once every five days, but doctors have told RFE/RL that has not happened. Medics also said that there were shortages of protective gear and that government promises of increased pay have not been met.
Russian students say they're being threatened with expulsion from medical school if they refuse to work in hospitals as the country's health system struggles to cope with the COVID-19 pandemic. The move to recruit students comes as questions are being asked about how many medical workers have died and amid allegations that there is a lack of personal protective equipment.
Many migrant workers in Moscow have lost their jobs and are not getting enough to eat amid the COVID-19 lockdown, according to volunteers who are distributing food parcels.
The head cardiologist at a St. Petersburg hospital in Russia has resigned, claiming staff have not been given all the personal protective equipment (PPE) they need during the COVID-19 epidemic. Marianna Zamyatina says she was demoted after complaining to hospital administrators about the lack of equipment.
Russians who share information about the coronavirus crisis that's judged to be "fake news" can now face a fine or even prison time. Critics say the new law can be used to silence independent media and maintain official control over information concerning the pandemic.
Scheduled surgeries for patients in Russia are being canceled as resources are diverted to fight the COVID-19 epidemic. Treatments are being delayed or denied for patients with conditions like cancer, hepatitis and cystic fibrosis.
A shocking video spread online has highlighted the problem of domestic violence amid lockdowns in Central Asia. In Kyrgyzstan, an activist says women have an "ingrained distrust" in the authorities, while a Kazakh crisis center is renting apartments for victims it can't house.
Residents of dilapidated, Soviet-era, communal apartments in the Russian city of St. Petersburg are stuck in lockdown without a room for bathing or showering. They usually use bathhouses to wash, but those have been closed in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Videos have emerged on social media that show Russian police forcibly detaining people for allegedly breaking laws imposed as part of efforts to restrict the spread of the coronavirus in the country. Lockdown laws in Moscow and other cities require residents to have electronic passes to travel by car or public transport.
In Karelia and Nizhny Novgorod, parents are complaining about food packages given to their children in lockdown to replace school lunches. They say they are getting expired food and rotten potatoes.
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