Russia's Foreign Ministry has criticized the Financial Times and The
New York Times after they reported that Russia's
Coronavirus death toll could be much higher than government officials are saying.
The articles said that they were based on a spike in total mortality rates reported by officials in
Moscow, who said the capital registered about 1,800 deaths more in April 2020 than the monthly average.
The New York Times reported that total is far higher than the official COVID-19 death count of 642, which the newspaper said was an indication of significant underreporting by the authorities.