Putin postpones Russia's WWII Victory Day celebrations due to virus
Russia had planned a massive military parade in Moscow with attendance by world leaders, including France's Emmanuel Macron and China's Xi Jinping, for this year, the 75th anniversary.
The Soviet Union suffered tens of millions of casualties during the war, the largest of the Allied forces. The victory over Nazi Germany remains a substantial source of national pride in Russia.
"The risks connected with this epidemic, the peak of which has not passed, are still extremely high," Putin said in comments carried by the Russian news agency Interfax.
"This does not give me the right to begin preparations for the parade and other mass events," Putin said, ordering regional officials to "postpone all mass public events."
Putin vowed to hold the anniversary celebrations sometime this year and encouraged Russians to still celebrate at home on May 9 and remember their family members who fought in the war.
"In every family on this day they will remember and honour their heroes," he said.
Putin had previously postponed a nationwide referendum planned for late April on whether to change the constitution to enable him to run again for re-election.
Putin, 67, has been in power for two decades as president or prime minister and is currently the longest-serving Russian or Soviet leader since Joseph Stalin.
It was unclear when the referendum or the Red Square Victory Day parade would take place.
Russia's identified coronavirus caseload has grown exponentially in the past two weeks, increasing over 900 per cent since April 1 to about 28,000 cases on Thursday.
Russian officials have been racing in the past two weeks to impose lockdown quarantine measures throughout the country, following the lead of the capital and largest city, Moscow, which has recorded the most cases.
Putin warned earlier this week that the coronavirus outbreak in the country was "not getting better." He demanded that officials prepare for a worst-case scenario and said Russia's military could become involved in further response measures.
Russia had been initially quick to respond as the epidemic was emerging in neighbouring China, closing the border in January.
Russian officials also conducted extensive quarantine measures for people arriving from other countries during that time, but Russia lagged behind other European countries in imposing domestic measures.
Now most of the country is under lockdown, a measure first imposed in Moscow just over two weeks ago, with the public told to remain in their homes unless absolutely necessary, in an effort to prevent a further spread of the virus.
Self-isolation is the only option, Putin, who has been working remotely, said in nationally televised comments last week. Putin began working remotely earlier this month as a top doctor with whom he had recently shaken hands tested positive for the virus.
That doctor, Denis Protsenko, who heads the coronavirus treatment operations at Moscow's Kommunarka hospital, announced this week that he had recovered from the virus.
