This project is free, there is no monetization in it… I don’t know what will be ahead, but it doesn’t interest me now. ‘Stoyanov in isolation’ is a way of emotional and professional survival."

– Russian actor Yuri Stoyanov, on his new YouTube show “Stoyanov in Isolation"

“I don’t know what to do here. What am I supposed to do, sing, dance? I don’t understand what people do on TikTok. ”

– Opposition leader Alexei Navalny, in his first post to TikTok, where he gained 130,000 followers in less than a week

“People here usually say to me: you are different than we thought and from the way American people are shown on TV. And I am happy.” 

– Sean Quirk, an American who has been living in Tuva, Siberia for almost 20 years, and knowns the Tuvan language better than Russian

“Happy holiday to you. Be happy and healthy.”

– President Vladimir Putin in his Easter address to Russians

“You know, it got to the point that they give such nasty information on [channel] Rossiya 1. Ah, the old man treats his people there with a tractor, vodka, a bath...  But why are you making fools of us in Russia? Why should a Russian person get it into their head that there, in the West, our Belarusans, they’re some kind of crazy?"

- President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko on bias in Russian media against Belarusans

"Because of the coronavirus, I voiced the idea of considering the possibility of not conducting the Unified State Exam this year…”

- Oleg Smolin, First Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Education and Science

“I understand that unpopular measures are being taken, but they are necessary in today's situation. This will allow us to avoid an outbreak of the disease. Measures are temporary: as soon as the peak of the epidemic passes, they will be canceled.”

– Governor Evgeny Kuyvashev on new self-isolation measures being undertaken in his region

“This is war. The enemy is invisible, but some lines of the front are clear. Today's difficulties, of course, are far from the horrors known to our history, and that includes the Blockade. That was much worse than today, and scarier.... The noble experience and mysticism of the besieged Hermitage remains with us always and serves as an example.”

- General Director of the State Hermitage Museum Mikhail Piotrovsky, in a Facebook post on how the Hermitage is dealing with the coronavirus pandemic

“Should I stock up on buckwheat?”

– Headline of an interview with Mikhail Delyagin, Director of the Institute for Globalization

“I believe Little Big is the group that will capture Europe's ears. This is the smartest choice. I'm sure they will tear everyone else apart! A lot of respect to Pervyi Kanal.”

- Musical producer Yana Rudkovskaya

“Maybe we should change our perspective on how to communicate with patients? What technologies and working methods should we use?”

– Minister of Health Mikhail Murashko

“Maslenitsa week is usually accompanied by all sorts of food excesses, including plentiful blini eating. And in this regard, any overeating is harmful to the body.”

– Member of the State Duma Committee on Health Protection Dr. Boris Mendelevich on the potential pitfalls of eating too many blini