Russia backs down from unpopular COVID restrictions

By DASHA LITVINOVA
Associated Press

MOSCOW (AP) — Russian authorities have backed away from introducing some of the restrictions for the unvaccinated that were announced a month ago and elicited public outrage all across the vast country where vaccine uptake remains low. The speaker of the State Duma, Russia’s lower parliament house, on Monday announced the withdrawal of a bill restricting access to domestic and international flights and trains to those who have been fully vaccinated, have recently recovered from COVID-19 or are medically exempt from vaccination. Vyacheslav Volodin cited “a joint decision by the State Duma and the government” to withdraw it from the parliament’s agenda for now. The new restrictions were announced a month ago and prompted protests from the largely vaccine-hesitant public.