MOSCOW, November 3. /TASS/. Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov has called for using data from the Federal State Statistics Service and the anti-coronavirus crisis center when evaluating the excess mortality caused by the coronavirus infection, commenting on an article in the Financial Times according to which Russia has become one of the leaders in terms of COVID-related excess mortality.
"The thing is, it is unclear based on which criteria the Financial Times was performing its calculations so I am not inclined to use this information as a primary source. Still, the primary source is our Federal State Statistics Service and those figures that were cited by Deputy Prime Minister [Tatyana] Golikova [who heads the crisis center] who repeatedly commented on the subject of excess mortality," the Kremlin official told journalists on Wednesday.
According to the Financial Times’ article, since the onset of the pandemic, in absolute terms, Russia has become second as far as excess mortality goes worldwide following the US.