page_title: Russian government responses to the COVID-19 pandemic
section_title: Other measures
hierarchical_section_title: Russian government responses to the COVID-19 pandemic / National measures / Other measures
caption_attribution_description: English: Vladimir Putin visited the information centre monitoring the situation around the coronavirus in Moscow, Russia and abroad.
context_page_description: The government of Russia has initially responded to the COVID-19 pandemic in the country with preventive measures to curb the spread of the coronavirus disease 2019 in the country, which involved imposing quarantines, carrying raids on potential virus carriers, and using facial recognition to impose quarantine measures. Measures to prevent a crisis in Russia include banning the export of medical masks, random checks on the Moscow Metro, and cancellation of large-scale events by schools. The Russian government has also taken measures to prevent foreign citizens from heavily affected countries from visiting Russia. Local governments have also responded to the pandemic by imposing their own preventive measures in their communities.
context_section_description: On 14 and 15 March, Ministry of Education and Ministry of Science and Higher Education recommended regions to adopt distance learning if it becomes necessary.
  On 17 March, Ministry of Culture announced closing all cultural institutions under its jurisdiction, including museums, theatres, symphonies, and circuses. On the same day, President Vladimir Putin said that the situation was "generally under control".
  On 18 March, Minister of Education Sergey Kravtsov announced that all Russian schools would be closed from 23 March to 12 April.
  On 19 March, Russia's Chief Sanitary Doctor, Anna Popova, required all people arriving from abroad to undergo a two-week self-isolation. Russian courts stopped considering all but most urgent cases because of the pandemic until 10 April.
  On 24 March, the Russian government adopted a number of decisions, including an instruction to regional authorities to suspend activities of any nightclubs, cinemas, children's entertainment centres, and to ban hookah smoking at any restaurants or cafes. The Central Bank recommended all the banks to keep the money for 3–4 days before giving it to clients or loading it into ATMs, and to restrict usage of cash recycling ATMs.
  On 25 March, President Putin, in a televised address to the nation, announced that the 2020 Russian constitutional referendum would be postponed due to the coronavirus. He added that the next week would be a nationwide paid holiday and urged Russians to stay at home. Putin also announced a list of measures of social protection, support for small and medium-sized enterprises, and changes in fiscal policy.
  On 26 March, Minister of Science and Higher Education Valery Falkov ordered all universities to close from 28 March to 5 April.
  On 27 March, as a follow-up to Putin's address to the nation, Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin ordered all reservations at pensions or holiday houses to be cancelled from 28 March to 1 June, recommended regional authorities to close all the pistes at resorts for the same period, instructed them to force all the public eating places (except for delivery services) to suspend activities from 28 March to 5 April, and recommended that citizens refrain from travelling. On the same day, the Ministry of Education announced the postponement of the Unified State Exam from the end of May to the beginning of June.
  On 30 March, as Moscow and Moscow Oblast declared a lockdown, Mishustin urged all regions to follow the example and take similar measures. He also announced a bill that would raise fines for breaching quarantine requirements.
  On 31 March, the Federal Assembly approved a law allowing the executive cabinet to declare a state of emergency on its own. Previously, only a commission led by the Minister of Emergency Situations could do that.
  On 1 April, Prime Minister Mishustin and the Minister of Communications Maxut Shadayev announced creating a system of tracking quarantine violation based on data of mobile network operators. Violators will receive a text message, and if they breach it systematically, the information will be sent to the police.
  On 2 April, President Putin extended the non-working period to 30 April.
caption: President Putin, Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin and Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin visited the Coronavirus Monitoring Centre on 17 March
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