The Russian authorities are going through hard times as the coronavirus outbreak continues to rage across the country. Unfortunately, Putin’s government has proved to be completely helpless to respond to the new viral outbreak and its consequences. Starting from late March, a nationwide lockdown has been imposed in most regions of the country.  However,  the economic side effects of these restrictive measures have been overlooked by the government. It seems that the Russian authorities have simply shrugged off all the responsibility for the economic fallout and left the citizens handle the situation themselves.  While the Western countries are handing out payouts and subsidies for their citizens, the Russian officials seem rather unwilling to do so. Earlier, the government promised to implement the program of interest-free loans intended for small and medium businesses affected by the pandemic. Yet, these supportive measures turned out to be inefficient and highly selective. Thus, even the minister of economic development, acting as a mystery customer, failed to get such a loan in a number of major banks. Reportedly, those companies, considered to be critically important for the national economy, can expect to receive preferential loans. However, this makes little sense as these enterprises are eligible to subsidies anyway being state-owned or even fictitious. In other words, at the moment there is no real support available for small and medium-sized companies. In fact, Russia was completely taken aback by this emergency. As a result, the economic stability is being shattered in every part of the country. So, despite the announced lockdown, some industries still have to operate amid the coronavirus threat. People, left on their own, have no other choice but to continue working as they are worried about their financial future. For instance, Russia’s largest plastic producer Polyplastic Group is operating around the clock seven days a week. Meanwhile, Nornickel, having received a substantial financial aid from the state, resumed the work of its mines as well as GAZ, the Russian automotive manufacturer, continued its operation. The Russian citizens have to work under such conditions risking their health and lives because they see no other way out.