Measures aimed at combating the coronavirus have already negatively affected the Russian economy. In the future, macroeconomic indicators will deteriorate. The study considers the analysis of relevant government measures to protect the Russian economy in the new realities of the pandemic. For the first time the team of authors (using the method of economic analysis of law) studied the regulatory and analytical material on supporting the Russian economy in the crisis. As a result of the study, the authors come to the following conclusions: 1) the Russian authorities promptly adopted a package of legislative acts to protect the Russian economy; 2) most government measures can potentially be effective and capable of supporting the Russian economy in the context of the coronavirus epidemic, however, it is too early to talk about the final effectiveness and sufficiency of these measures; 3) some measures, despite the fact that they will accumulate funds in the budget, could potentially have a negative effect on the Russian economy in the future. © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021.