Russia has adopted some of the world's most controversial — many would say discriminatory — measures to combat the coronavirus, including policies specifically targeting the Chinese community.
CBC News recently joined Gorbunov and Kovalov, who are both in their sixties, as they led a team of younger volunteers around Russia's fourth-largest city, handing out masks and dispensing free medical advice on how to avoid contracting the coronavirus.
Although Russia is the world's largest nation in terms of land mass and shares more international borders than any other state in the world (14), health authorities here have reported strikingly few cases of the COVID-19 virus.
But other than that, the government says officially, there are no positive coronavirus cases in Russia.
Those measures include an early closure of most Chinese land border crossings with Russia, which has since been expanded to a near-total ban on all Chinese people — not just those from the epicentre in Wuhan — entering Russia.
For those who are allowed in — usually for business purposes — 14 days in quarantine follows.
Moscow's mayor has also authorized raids on work sites that have Chinese migrant labourers, and the use of cameras with facial-recognition technology to ensure the quarantines are followed. On Friday, the city announced it had arrested 88 people for breaking the self-isolation orders.
The World Health Organization has argued against the kind of border closures adopted early on by Russia, saying that at best they slow the spread of viruses and at worst cause unnecessary economic hardship, stigmatize ethnic groups and are a violation of international law.
