The United Russia State Duma candidates who will meet with President Vladimir Putin on August 22 have been quarantined, RBC and Znak.com reported, citing sources.

According to RBC, a total of 30-35 people from the party's active members are in quarantine. In particular, the head of the Talent and Success Foundation, Elena Shmeleva, who is in the top five of the United Russia federal list, is undergoing quarantine.

There is no information about the other five figures - RBC notes that Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov visited the Kaliningrad Region on August 17, and he has talks scheduled in Moscow for August 19. At the same time, all events involving Defense Minister Sergey Shoygu have been moved to an online format this week.

The fact that everyone is being quarantined for two weeks before meeting with Putin was first reported by the publication Proekt in September 2020, and this information was later partially confirmed by the president's press secretary Dmitry Peskov. The BBC Russian Service wrote in March 2021 that during the pandemic, an entire observation system was created for people in contact with Putin, on which billions of rubles were spent.
Putin, by his own account, was vaccinated against coronavirus in the spring of 2021. He later said that he had used the Sputnik V vaccine. Later, the media reported that despite the vaccination, participants in meetings with the president continued to be quarantined.

United Russia Duma candidates (including those from the top five on the federal list) quarantined before meeting with Putin