Welfare in Russia and Eurasia in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic

This concluding article explores how inequalities and exclusionary processes surrounding a range of marginalised social groups addressed in this special issue – the elderly, children and young people in care, the children of economic migrants, and people with disabilities – have been highlighted by the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as the ways in which state and third sector actors have responded to the pandemic and the success of any measures taken. The article situates each group within a wider international context, and draws on survey research exploring the experiences of NGOs assisting marginalised groups across Eastern Europe, Central Asia and the South Caucasus. It is argued that the impact of COVID-19 on social and health inequalities in Eurasia has predominantly been to exacerbate them, and thus echoes patterns identified elsewhere in the world. At the same time, path-dependent factors rooted in Eurasia’s state-socialist and post-socialist history – notably the predominance of large-scale institutions in the care sector, the centrality of migrant labour to Central Asian economies, the low status of pensioners, low levels of social trust, the limited role of civil society organisations in the provision of welfare, and dependence on international aid for food security – have shaped the impact of the pandemic on the welfare of vulnerable groups in ways specific to the region