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Malgré le fait que la communauté mondiale vit avec la maladie COVID-19 depuis plus de deux ans, les États baltes et nordiques à la pointe de la technologie sont négligés, tant au sens théorique qu’empirique. De plus, ces régions voisines présentent une variation significative du nombre total de décès causés par le coronavirus. Une valeur plus élevée d’un nombre total de décès dans les États baltes s’explique par le nombre plus élevé de cas de COVID-19, une valeur relativement plus faible du PIB par habitant, une proportion plus élevée de citoyens âgés et ce qui pourrait être le facteur le plus important - la confiance inférieur des citoyens dans le gouvernement national. La conclusion générale est que l’efficacité des politiques de lutte contre les coronavirus est minée par l’absence de confiance dans le processus décisionnel du gouvernement.

In April 2020, the federal authorities in Russia decided to transfer additional decision-making powers to the regions, regarding pandemic-related non-pharmaceutical interventions. While some experts view this as a step towards more federalism, most researchers consider it an attempt to shift the responsibility and blame for decisions and their consequences onto the governors. The empowerment of the regions led to increased attention towards their heads on the social media, as a mirror of the public opinion. This study attempts to find out, to what extent the decision to decentralize governance during the pandemic affected the attitude towards the heads of the regions on the social media, whether this influence was positive or negative, and if the effectiveness of governance and the governors' usage of the social media could have mediated this influence. The analysis conducted using the regression analysis on the data obtained for April - November 2020 for 80 regions. The main finding of the paper is that the approval and disapproval of the governors depended on the stringency of adopted federal and regional measures, which reduced the share of positive comments and increased the share of negative once. At the same time, the effectiveness of governance appeared to be a significant factor: both political control and social policy had a significant effect on the image of governors within the period under study. On the contrary, the use of the social media by governors does not seem to be important, which speaks for the insufficient utilization of this instrument by the regional authorities. The study contributes to the analysis of the COVID-19 policies and their consequences, as well as to the research on the role of governance and the Internet in the Russian political dynamics.