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Russia’s Putin Admits ‘Several Dozen’ People Close to Him Have COVID

The 68-year-old Russian leader’s spokesman says he will stay in his bunker “for a week, at minimum.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin revealed Thursday that “several dozen people” within his orbit at the Kremlin have tested positive for COVID-19. The admission, made during a videoconference of the Collective Security Treaty Organization, comes after the Russian leader told government officials this week that he was forced into his bunker after having close contact with a staffer infected with the virus. “You know that, unfortunately, I was forced to cancel my trip to Dushanbe at the last minute,” he told the security alliance Thursday. “But that is connected with the fact that, in my inner circle, as you know, cases of coronavirus infection were detected, and it’s not one, not two, but several dozen people,” he told the conference, which he had been slated to attend in person before news of the Kremlin COVID outbreak broke. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov later told reporters Putin would likely have to quarantine “for a week, at minimum,” though he said he could not say the “exact number of days.” As for upcoming parliamentary elections this weekend, Peskov noted that the Russian leader is registered to vote electronically and it’s “unlikely” he would leave self-isolation in order to vote.