The government of Russia has initially responded to the COVID-19 pandemic in the country with preventive measures to curb the spread of the coronavirus disease 2019 in the country, which involved imposing quarantines, carrying raids on potential virus carriers, and using facial recognition to impose quarantine measures. Measures to prevent a crisis in Russia include banning the export of medical masks, random checks on the Moscow Metro, and cancellation of large-scale events by schools. The Russian government has also taken measures to prevent foreign citizens from heavily affected countries from visiting Russia. Local governments have also responded to the pandemic by imposing their own preventive measures in their communities.

Background On 12 January, the World Health Organization (WHO) confirmed that a novel coronavirus was the cause of a respiratory illness in a cluster of people in Wuhan, Hubei, China, who had initially come to the attention of the WHO on 31 December 2019. Compared to SARS of 2003, the case fatality ratio for COVID-19 has been much lower, but the incubation period and transmission have been significantly greater, resulting in a significant total death toll.

On 31 January, first two cases in the country were confirmed, one in Tyumen, Tyumen Oblast, and another one in Chita, Zabaykalsky Krai. Both were Chinese nationals. There were no other confirmed cases until 2 March when the first case in Moscow was confirmed. On 19 March, the first death of a patient with confirmed COVID-19 was reported in Moscow. The victim was identified in the media as Valentina Zubareva, professor at the Gubkin University, she had contracted the disease in Russia. The first two confirmed deaths were recorded on 25 March in Moscow.

National measures

The Russian consumer health watchdog Rospotrebnadzor advised tourists to refrain from visiting Wuhan and stay away from Chinese zoos and markets selling animals and seafood. The agency also said that development of a vaccine against the virus was underway, relying on the WHO's recommendations.

A total of 144 Russians were evacuated from Wuhan, the initial centre of the outbreak, and were quarantined in Tyumen Oblast for two weeks from 5 February.

On 24 March, Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin told President Putin at a meeting that "a serious situation is unfolding" and that the relatively low number of confirmed cases could be due to a low level of testing, saying that "there are far more people who are infected" and that the number of people in Moscow suspected of having the coronavirus was about 500.

A number of venues and parks in Russia including Crocus Expo, Exhibition of Achievements of National Economy and Patriot Park in Moscow and Lenexpo in Saint Petersburg were turned into temporary hospitals.

Testing On 24 January, the first testing systems were developed and deployed to laboratories around the country.

As of 23 March, Russia had 4 testing systems and had carried out over 165 thousand tests for the virus which is among the highest testing numbers in the world. Two private lab companies started testing on 26 March. According to Deputy Prime Minister Tatyana Golikova, as of 25 March 141 state laboratories were conducting tests in 79 federal subjects. There are plans to increase the number of reference centres across the country to 15. On 27 March, the Federal Service for Surveillance in Healthcare (Roszdravnadzor) registered two more test systems. In Moscow on 21 March the average of those tested was low at 35 years and starting to rise to 37–39 years.

On 9 April, Russia passed the 1 million test mark and in addition to the laboratories of Rospotrebnadzor 200 state medical laboratories and 22 private laboratories are carrying out testing. There is a drive to further expand testing with any laboratory being able to carry out tests by submitting a notification to the central website.

On 27 April, Russia passed the 3 million test mark. On 28 April Anna Popova head of Federal Service for Surveillance in Healthcare (Roszdravnadzor) in a presidential update stated that there were now 506 laboratories testing and that 45% of those tested have no symptoms with the number having pneumonia reducing from 25% to 20% and only 5% of patients with a severe form. 40% of infections were from family members. The speed of people reporting illness has improved from 6 days to the day people find symptoms. Antibody testing was carried out on 3,200 Moscow doctors and 20% have immunity.

Russia continued to have the 2nd highest rate of testing in the world with 4.1m tests at 3 May, 5.2m tests at 9 May, 6.1m tests at 14 May, 7.1m tests on 18 May, 9m tests on 26 May and 10m tests on 29 May.

Dr. Melita Vujnovic, the World Health Organization's representative in Russia, stated that Russia, in accordance with WHO recommendations, "started testing literally at the end of January." Coronavirus testing in Russia was provided by the State Research Center of Virology and Biotechnology VECTOR in Novosibirsk and had to be verified there. There was concern that the tests may have insufficient sensitivity, despite the fact that the tests were verified in China since early February, showed the degree of sensitivity similar to or higher than other tests and the lab has been approved by the World Health Organization. Since 23 March, European Russia doesn't send their batches to Novosibirsk for verification, verifying them instead in a Moscow reference centre.

Asymptomatic test study for antibodies In a study announced on 14 May, 5.6% of symptomless patients in St. Petersburg had detectable levels of antibodies to coronavirus. The study covered 1,276 coronavirus-positive volunteers aged from 11 to 93 with no COVID-19 symptoms. The study was carried out by Virology Center of St. Petersburg's Hospital No 40 who have carried out 22,000 coronavirus tests since the study started on 1 April. Antibody testing was carried out on the basis of enzyme-linked immunoassay. The announcement stated "The idea is that many hope that after having mild forms of the disease they could be spared from it. Practice however shows that it is not so. So, people should not relax. The immunity stratum is not that thick,"

Travel and entry restrictions

On 23 January, the Russian city of Blagoveshchensk, near the Chinese border, limited access to the country. Cultural exchange and official visits to China were cancelled. The Governors of the Amur Oblast Vasily Orlov, and of the Penza Oblast Ivan Belozertsev, called on residents to abandon trips to China altogether. Residents of large cities were told to avoid contact with tourists from China.

On 31 January, Deputy Prime Minister Tatyana Golikova said Russia will restrict the entry of foreigners arriving from China, except for flights to Moscow Sheremetyevo Airport.

On 20 February, the entry of Chinese citizens was banned. The temporary suspension is for Chinese citizens entering Russia for employment, private, educational and tourist purposes.

On 28 February, Moscow announced that it would deport 88 foreigners for allegedly violating quarantine measures. Russia barred Iranian citizens from entering Russia and said it would also restrict the entry of South Korean citizens from 1 March. Flights between Russia and South Korea are suspended, except for those operated by Aeroflot and Aurora.

On 4 March, Russia suspended its train service from Moscow to Nice, France. Aeroflot suspended flights to and from Hong Kong on 9 March.

Flights to and from Italy, Germany, France and Spain are limited since 13 March. Russia also stopped issuing tourist visas to Italian citizens and closed the border to Italian citizens and foreigners coming from Italy.

On 15 March, the land borders with Norway and Poland were closed to all foreigners. Russian Railways announced it would stop passenger trains from Moscow to Berlin and Paris. Earlier it was announced that train connections to and from Ukraine, Moldova and Latvia would be suspended because those countries had closed their borders.

Since 16 March, flights to and from the European Union, Norway and Switzerland were limited to regular flights between capital cities (Geneva in the case of Switzerland) and Moscow Sheremetyevo Airport, and charter flights. Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin announced that the border with Belarus has been closed for the movement of people and an entry ban for foreigners will be imposed from 18 March to 1 May. On 17 March, Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Russian embassies and consulates had stopped issuing all types of visas, including e-visas, with exceptions for diplomats, people attending funerals and transit passengers.

On 23 March, Russia restricted air travel from all over the world, except for certain flights from Moscow to major capitals, and charter flights intended to move foreign citizens to their respective countries and Russian nationals back to Russia, until everyone is evacuated.

On 25 March, the Russian government loosened the travel ban to allow the entry for relatives of Russian citizens.

All regular and charter international flights were suspended on 27 March, except for those aimed at bringing Russians home.

On the same day, Grozny Airport refused to receive passengers without permanent or temporary registration in Chechnya.

Following a request from the Government of Moscow, BlaBlaCar carpooling service decided to suspend its activities across Russia starting from 30 March.

On 28 March, the Russian government decided to close all automobile, railway, pedestrian, river, or other border checkpoints, including on the Belarus border, with exceptions similar to that of the air travel restrictions. The ban must be enforced on 30 March.

Other measures

On 14 and 15 March, Ministry of Education and Ministry of Science and Higher Education recommended regions to adopt distance learning if it becomes necessary.

On 17 March, Ministry of Culture announced closing all cultural institutions under its jurisdiction, including museums, theatres, symphonies, and circuses. On the same day, President Vladimir Putin said that the situation was "generally under control".

On 18 March, Minister of Education Sergey Kravtsov announced that all Russian schools would be closed from 23 March to 12 April.

On 19 March, Russia's Chief Sanitary Doctor, Anna Popova, required all people arriving from abroad to undergo a two-week self-isolation. Russian courts stopped considering all but most urgent cases because of the pandemic until 10 April.

On 24 March, the Russian government adopted a number of decisions, including an instruction to regional authorities to suspend activities of any nightclubs, cinemas, children's entertainment centres, and to ban hookah smoking at any restaurants or cafes. The Central Bank recommended all the banks to keep the money for 3–4 days before giving it to clients or loading it into ATMs, and to restrict usage of cash recycling ATMs.

On 25 March, President Putin, in a televised address to the nation, announced that the 2020 Russian constitutional referendum would be postponed due to the coronavirus. He added that the next week would be a nationwide paid holiday and urged Russians to stay at home. Putin also announced a list of measures of social protection, support for small and medium-sized enterprises, and changes in fiscal policy.

On 26 March, Minister of Science and Higher Education Valery Falkov ordered all universities to close from 28 March to 5 April.