Coronavirus: Don't believe the numbers - Russia

As the world creeps ever so closer to an official million deaths due to COVID-19, one has to wonder what the true numbers really are. I've spent time looking at various countries and the speculated under-counting of deaths, for example, Ecuador, Iran and Mexico

Now Reuters (Sep 14) takes a look at Russia:

While Russia has confirmed the world’s fourth largest tally of coronavirus cases, it has a relatively low death toll from the associated disease, COVID-19.

Moscow says the way it classifies deaths is more accurate than other nations. Some Russian health officials have explained that in many cases, a patient who dies with COVID-19 does not necessarily die of it but from other causes including pre-existing health problems. 

. . . But data released by the Rosstat State Statistics Service on Sept. 4 show there were 57,800 excess deaths between May and July, the peak of the outbreak.

. . . In Russia, they surpass the number of COVID-19 deaths by a factor of 3.6 for the months in question. Raksha and some opposition figures have criticised Putin for downplaying the pandemic.