In his letter, the ambassador disagreed with the data provided in the FT material, in particular, with the assertion that the death rate from COVID-19 was allegedly underestimated in Russian official statistics.
“I am forced to express my disagreement with the way your newspaper highlights the efforts of Russia to combat the coronavirus pandemic. From the materials published on the pages of the publication, it follows that Russia manipulates data on the situation in the country and spreads misinformation abroad, while the government is allegedly ineffective, and doctors do not have adequate protection. Such a description of the situation is not true and requires a refutation, ”he said.
The diplomat noted that, even according to the most pessimistic estimates, Russia's indicators for the effectiveness of the healthcare system and mortality rate are among the best among all major countries.
At the same time, Kelin emphasized that the corresponding publication of the publication “is distinguished by unacceptable and unprofessional, one-sided coverage of the topic.”
In his letter, the ambassador cited statistics on coronavirus infection in the country and indicated that “the mortality rate from COVID-19 in Russia is 7.6 times lower than the world average.”
Earlier, the Russian Foreign Ministry stated that they intend to send requests to the editors of the Financial Times and The New York Times to refute published inaccurate data on coronavirus mortality statistics in Russia.