Moscow woke up to a mandatory lockdown on Monday, as the 12.5 million residents of the Russian capital were told to stay indoors in order to slow the spread of coronavirus.
The restrictions are some of the most severe in the city’s history, a near curfew with little precedent in peacetime. Red Square is empty, shopping malls are shuttered and downtown parks have been cordoned off, as Muscovites prepare to self-isolate for a month or longer.
And yet, in Moscow’s Sokol neighbourhood, a 15-minute drive from the Kremlin, you could almost have mistaken Monday for a normal day. Dog walkers were out early and supermarkets were open for business, even if foot traffic was a bit slow.
Buses were running and food deliverers in lemon-yellow jackets whizzed by on bicycles. A manager said they had made several hundred deliveries and had not been stopped yet. “It’s like a normal day,” he said. “Just a lot more orders.”
Many residents did respect the ban, which was announced on Sunday evening in a blogpost by the Moscow mayor, Sergei Sobyanin, but others found there was little stopping them from venturing out. Police are largely absent from the streets, at least for now.
There is a sense that the chaotic rollout of this week’s lockdown will be followed by tougher enforcement, including electronic QR-codes used to track residents. In just 10 days, the capital has gone from being told the Covid-19 outbreak is under control to having a virtual curfew.
“It’s enough to make you go crazy,” said Nadezhda, 48, who was seated by the front door to her apartment building, where she lives with her husband. “I’d barely heard of coronavirus [until this month], and now we’re going to spend the next month climbing the walls at home. Nobody was prepared for this.”
Muscovites who can leave the city have fled for their countryside dachas, hoping to trade in cramped apartments for cottages and a chance to let their kids play outside. Richer Russians have reportedly sought to buy personal ventilators as they prepare at-home clinics, the Moscow Times reported last week.
Meanwhile, activists are worried about the effect the ban could have on at-risk groups of people staying at home, such as older people and women and children in abusive relationships.
“We don’t know when they’re going to let everyone out again, if this could be one month, two months, more,” said Alexandra Sokolova, a graphic designer who was working with local activists to bring groceries to elderly people in the area. “It’s difficult to know what to expect tomorrow. So we’re taking this chance, when we know we can still go outside, to stock up.”
The authorities were right to institute a tougher regime to slow the spread of coronavirus, she said. “But that should come with provisions for people who need help.”
Muscovites have been told to stay inside except to go to the shop, the pharmacy, to seek medical help, or to walk the dog – and even then need to stay within 100 metres of home. The city centre has virtually shut down as restaurants and shops have closed.
On Monday, police officers in medical masks patrolled the pedestrian Nikolskaya Street, which hosted raucous fan parties during the 2018 World Cup.
Russia denies the measures constitute a formal curfew, and several Moscow region police officers were rebuked after driving through a commuter area and announcing a curfew had been declared.
The crackdown may have been provoked by images of Muscovites rushing out to buy last-minute flights to beach resorts, or heading to city parks to barbecue shashlik after the president, Vladimir Putin, announced a “non-working week” beginning on Saturday.
On Sunday, an outdoor gym with homemade weights and exercise equipment was teeming with people, mainly men who said they had been coming to work out for years and would not stop now.
The mayor’s office was outraged when staff saw news footage of Muscovites barbecuing shashlik on state television, BBC News Russian reported. In the original version of the news report, one Muscovite tells a journalist the virus “doesn’t exist”.
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