increased significantly in recent days, it's still relatively low, considering Russia has a population of 146 million people and shares a vast border with China and Europe.

Russia's efforts to control the virus may have indeed given it a head-start.

It shut its border with China in January and progressively closed other crossings throughout March.

However, serious cracks in Russia's defences emerged last week when Moscow's Mayor, Sergei Sobyanin, said infections were likely to be much higher than official figures suggested.

Russia's Doctor's Alliance, a union group with links to opposition figure Alexei Navalny, also accused the Government of deliberately hiding the number of infections — accusations the Kremlin denied.

"They have a habit of fiddling with figures," Mr Boulegue said.

The Russia expert doubted the Kremlin would pursue a large-scale cover-up of cases,in the middle of power transition discussions."

From Russia, with love

Despite creating enormous challenges for Russia, the pandemic has created opportunities for Vladimir Putin.

Russia has been sending medical supplies to countries hit hardest by coronavirus, including Italy and the US. ( Russian Defence Ministry Press Service via AP: Alexei Yereshko )

Following discussions with US President Donald Trump, Mr Putin arranged for a planeload of medical supplies to be flown to New York.

It was a "very nice" gesture, Mr Trump said.

It was also a chance for Russia to portray itself as a generous and capable world player, coming to the aid of the United States.

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"This is nuts," tweeted Andrew Weiss, vice-president of studies at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

"Hopefully someone will tell Trump that he's playing right into a