INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Do Russians support the war in Ukraine? This question has been discussed intensely since the invasion in February
According to surveys from major Russian pollsters (including the independent Levada Center and state-controlled VTsIOM) about 75% of the
population does support the invasion
In the process, it became clear that a group of officials, political managers and experts have been carrying out confidential opinion polls
on attitudes toward the war for at least six months
Respondents were asked not only whether the war should have been started in the first place, but whether it is going according to plan and
Political expert Grigory Yudin, a professor at the Moscow Higher School of Social and Economic Science, said that the statistical margin of
error in such a survey is no less than 3.3%
analyzed the results and discussed them with independent experts.After nine months of war in Ukraine, fewer and fewer Russians believe Putin
major factor in the responses
In the 18- to 45-year-old category, about 40% of respondents said they think it was right to start the war
Younger respondents, who make up a quarter of the population and generally get their information from the internet, account for most of the
overall drop in support for the war since the start of the fighting.In the older age group (over 45), 76% approve of Putin's decision to
This might be a way to avoid answering the question, according to Yekaterina Schulmann, a political scientist and researcher at the Robert
"People are terribly afraid
people believing the war should never have been started, the share of those who support a continuation of the war has been growing
17, 67% supported continuing the fight
According to Schulmann, people are taking a "we shouldn't have started it, but we must go on" attitude because they realize Russia is losing
director of the Levada Center, said sociologists observed a similar phenomenon in 2014 when Russia annexed Crimea and started a conflict in
alternative like peace talks (such as in Levada Center polls),a growing number of people choose this option
"The general mood is to end everything quickly, but without major concessions," Volkov said, adding that support for negotiations grew after
Meduza."People are anxious
They don't understand what a victory in this war will look like and when it will come," said one government official who spoke to us after
seeing the polling results.The final question regularly asked by these polls is whether respondents believe the military operation in
According to the latest data, this recently reached its highest level: 42%
At the same time, the number of respondents who believe the war is going as planned has been trending downward
surrender of Kherson and other military defeats amid the successful counteroffensive conducted by the Ukrainian Armed Forces have not had a
of people who believe the war is not going well, but when you ask why, their first response is that it has dragged on [too long], which
means that things have not gone according to plan
"The mobilization caused panic and stirred everyone up
