ABSTRACT
The COVID-19 pandemic in Russia, Kazakhstan, and Ukraine was part of the still ongoing pandemic of coronavirus disease caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). Specific to Ukraine was the fact that the pandemic caught the country in a difficult period of decentralization reforms. Thus, despite early and resolute national reaction to pandemic exercised in a centralized manner, Ukraine was one of the unfortunate leaders among European countries in confirmed COVID-19 cases and coronavirus death tolls. This geography has determined that national authorities of Kazakhstan have been imposing measures against the coronavirus pandemic since January 2020. Center-regional relations in Russia, Ukraine, and Kazakhstan combine elements of centralization and decentralization and this mix vary over time and across policy areas. As in Russia and Ukraine, in Kazakhstan, the pandemic crisis provoked no reforms in center-regional relations, that is the ad hoc adjustments did not change the "normal times" incentive structures for central and regional executives.
