TV story about wearing masks in Chechnya turns into complaint to Russian watchdog

Valery Rashkin, a State Duma MP from the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, has demanded to check the veracity of the story from the programme "Healthy Life" by Elena Malysheva from Chechnya, which spoke about the absence of the effect of mask-wearing on the coronavirus infection frequency, and about the advantages of cancelling the mask regime.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on February 10, Ramzan Kadyrov announced the abolition of the mandatory wearing of medical masks in public places. Ahead of other regional leaders, Kadyrov is trying to show the Kremlin that the epidemic has been overcome in Chechnya, experts have noted.

In his request, Mr Rashkin has noted that wearing masks in crowded places is a must. "For appearing in public places without masks policemen detain citizens, including roughly, with the use of physical force. Numerous cases are initiated," the MP has stated, stressing that "the absence of uniformity in interpreting and applying the instructions on how to observe the mask regime causes noticeable public discontent." He asked, in particular, Anna Popova, the head of the "Rospotrebnadzor" (Russian Federal Service for Surveillance on Consumer Rights Protection and Human Wellbeing), to check the above story from the programme "Healthy Life" for reliability and safety, the request says.

The story of the programme in question was posted on the programme's YouTube channel on March 9. The presenter Elena Malysheva had visited Chechnya, where the mask regime was cancelled on February 10. "Our morning begins in Chechnya with such a symbolic gesture," Ms Malysheva said leaving the plane that arrived in Chechnya and removing the medical mask away from her face. "Chechnya is the first Russian territory to completely abolish the mask regime <...> The Island of Happiness lives without masks!" she has added.

Also in the programme, analysts noted that when wearing a mask for more than two hours, pathogenic organisms accumulate on it. "There is only one conclusion: if you are wearing masks, you need to change them every two hours," Ms Malysheva has stated, also referring to a study by Danish scientists, according to which wearing masks does not reduce the incidence of coronavirus infection.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on April 3, 2021 at 07:31 am MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.