Visitors meeting Russian President Vladimir Putin at his
country residence must first pass through a walk-through device that sprays
them with disinfectant to protect him from the coronavirus, officials said.
The measures have provoked anger from some observers, given
the authorities have ruled it is safe enough to hold nationwide referendum on
July 1.
Putin has been self-isolating at his Novo-Ogaryovo
residence outside Moscow under lockdown although he made a public appearance
without a mask at an outdoor event on the June 12 Russia Day holiday.
As part of precautions to protect the president, visitors
walk through the device and get sprayed from above and the side, a video posted
Tuesday evening on Twitter by Kremlin pool journalists from RIA Novosti state
news agency showed.
Presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that
two of the disinfection machines had also been installed in the Kremlin.
"They were installed during the height of the
pandemic," he said, adding that anti-virus measures still in place at the
Kremlin were "justified and understandable where the president is
concerned".
The authorities in Penza region east of Moscow where the
device was made boasted that it "ensured the safety of the head of
government and all those who visit him."
The Penza regional government said the president's staff
got in touch with the manufacturing company, which until the virus outbreak
specialised in automatic cleaning equipment for industrial use.
The Kremlin has imposed a range of measures to protect
Putin, including regular virus testing of the leader and all those who come
into contact with him.
Visitors have to take a virus test before meeting Putin,
his spokesman said.
The president began holding video conference calls with
officials in April, although there have been a few exceptions. On May 12 for
example, he was shown meeting in person with the chief of oil giant Rosneft,
Igor Sechin.
Despite these measures, some in Putin's circle have caught
the virus, including Peskov, who said, however, that he had not met the
president recently enough to have infected him.
In an apparent close brush with the virus in March, Putin
was shown on television shaking hands with the chief doctor at a Moscow virus
hospital while neither was wearing a mask. The doctor, Denis Protsenko, soon
afterwards tested positive.
The elaborate precautions protecting Putin sparked anger
from some as the Kremlin has ruled it is safe to hold a national vote on July 1
on constitutional changes that would allow him to serve another consecutive
Kremlin term.
"Let them install this know-how at every polling
station and then hold a vote," wrote a commentator, Aleks, on the website
of Komsomolskaya Pravda tabloid.
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