Report: War Putin does not find a majority among Russians Selenskyj celebrates return of prisoners of war ++ Marin thinks Europe is not strong enough

According to an internal poll by the Kremlin, 55 percent of Russians surveyed support peace negotiations. Only a quarter still support the war against Ukraine. According to information from the independent media site Meduza, which is close to the opposition, the newspaper is said to have been produced by the Russian authority FSO. There they were well aware of the explosive result and classified the data analysis as ‘strictly confidential’. Accordingly, so far it has not been circulated in the Russian media. The information cannot be independently verified at this time.

In October, the Levada Center, an independent Russian opinion research institute, found similar values ​​in a survey. At the time, 57 percent of respondents said they supported or would support the negotiations. Only 27 percent were in favor of continuing the war against Ukraine. As recently as July, only 30 percent were in favor of a peace solution.

According to information from Meduza, the Kremlin wants to respond – its own research data may no longer be published in full. One informant said it was “better not to reveal the dynamics behind the polls”. In plain language, this probably means: Putin does not want to hear or even spread bad news.

Mobilization would have been decisive

The head of the Levada Center, Denis Volkov, sees a change of heart since the September mobilization. “It’s the resistance of even having to be there in the war. They support the war, but have little interest in getting involved themselves,” he told Meduza. Many Russians assumed the war in Ukraine wouldn’t affect them and that life would go on It’s different now and people are talking about it.

The sociologist Grigory Yudin also sees the call to arms as the reason for the declining support. The “lost faith in victory” is another reason for this. Although he does not rule out demonstrations, he believes that there is a certain apathy among the Russians. Kremlin insiders told Meduza they are less concerned about protests. However, the anonymous source describes the strategy as “not raising the temperature unnecessarily and not annoying people”. That is why the media was also instructed to publish “more positive news”.