title: Russia
abstract: This chapter explores the response of Russian President Vladimir Putin and his government to the COVID-19 pandemic. While Putin has used populist tactics in the past to boost his power and popularity, during the COVID-19 crisis, he mainly avoided such tactics. The Russian government’s response to the pandemic was largely founded in science; it introduced a variety of restrictions to curb the spread of the virus, and Russia even became the first country to develop and approve its own vaccine. At 