According to public opinion polls, more Russians began to believe in their country’s victory. Moreover, support for military action remains consistently high.
Support for Russia’s military action in Ukraine has remained consistently high since the beginning of 2022. Only a third of respondents are ready to accept moral responsibility for the death and destruction of Ukrainian civilians. These data are presented in the results of a study conducted by the independent Russian Levada Center.
According to the report, 77 percent of those surveyed in January 2024 stated that they supported the war against Ukraine, while 16 percent did not approve of such actions, and 8 percent stated that they were undecided. However, as before, those who support a transition to peace negotiations outnumber those who support military action: 52% versus 40%. Although the rate of those supporting peace talks has fallen from 57 percent to 52 percent in recent months, this rate is still at the same level as the annual average. A third of Russians think they bear moral responsibility for the death and destruction of civilians in Ukraine (10% – fully, 21% – partially), while 62% of respondents hold the opposite opinion.
The poll also showed that a majority of Russians have confidence in the duration of the war against Ukraine. Almost half (45%) of those surveyed expect conflicts to last more than a year, while another 23% expect conflicts to last six months to a year.
Overall, 77 percent of Russians believe the war against Ukraine will result in victory for Russia; This rate is almost the same as May 2022, up 6 percent from a year ago. Two-thirds of Russians (66%) think that the cost of the Russian Federation’s war against Ukraine is too high, while 25% disagree with this statement. The percentage of respondents agreeing with this statement has dropped sharply over the last six months from July 2023 (when it was 82%) to today. Additionally, 64% of Russians do not believe that the Russian Federation made a mistake in starting the war.
The All-Russian Levada Center conducted a nationwide study from 14 to 20 December 2023 and 25 to 31 January 2024 on a representative sample of residents of urban and rural areas of Russia, including 1606 and 1621 people aged 18 years and over. carried out. 137 settlements and 50 regions respectively. The research was conducted by conducting personal interviews with the participants in their own homes. Percentage of responses are presented based on the total number of survey participants.
Let us recall that the results of a survey conducted in November 2023 showed that the majority of Russians are ready to support Vladimir Putin if he announces the end of hostilities, but subject to the protection of new territories.
Earlier, in October 2023, the Levada Center published the results of a survey showing that the majority of Russian respondents said they would support the idea of ending the war in Ukraine in the near future.
Source: Focus
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