Russia’s coronavirus cases top 300,000 but deaths suspiciously low:

Russia’s coronavirus cases surpassed 300,000 on Wednesday, cementing its position as the second-worst-hit country from the virus after the U.S., but there are increasing questions over the country’s low death toll.

Russia reported a further 8,764 coronavirus cases Wednesday, pushing its total case tally to 308,705, its coronavirus crisis center said. The death toll rose by 135 to a total 2,972 fatalities.

Experts have questioned the accuracy of Russian data when it comes to the coronavirus, although the country has insisted that it is not under-reporting coronavirus fatalities.

Political analyst Anton Barbashin told CNBC that “there are many questions” relating to the number of people reported dead because of Covid-19 in Russia.

“It is safe to assume it is considerably higher than the official statistics indicate. Presumably in many of Covid-related deaths, a different cause of death is being registered (heart failure or some chronic illness). Moreover there are a lot questions to numbers regions provide … Thus numbers of Covid-positives and people dying from Covid could be much higher than reported,” he said.

Daragh McDowell, head of Europe and principal Russia analyst at Verisk Maplecroft, also said he believes the data underestimates the scale of the outbreak in Russia.