Russian President Vladimir Putin has seen a sharp rise in his approval rating from the Russian people after the decision to invade Ukraine, according to a new poll.
Opinion tracker Levada-Center, a respected non-governmental research organization, issued a press release on Wednesday. It was highlighted that in March, Russians increasingly supported the president, prime minister and government.
“In March, the approval of the most important state institutions increased significantly,” the press release says, according to a Google translation. “83 percent approve of the activities of the President, 71 percent of the Prime Minister, 70 percent of the government and 59 percent of the State Duma.”
The Levada Center also concluded that in Russia there has been a sharp increase in those who believe the country is moving in the right direction. In February, just 52 percent of people believed this to be true, while that number rose to 69 percent in March.
Those who believed the country was going in the wrong direction fell from 38 percent in February to 22 percent in March.
Russian President Vladimir Putin holds a meeting with winners of state cultural awards via video link at the Novo-Ogaryovo state residence outside Moscow on March 25, 2022. According to a poll, Vladimir Putin’s approval rating skyrocketed after the invasion of Ukraine. Getty Images/Mikhail Klimentyev
In addition, the research institute issued a separate press release on Thursday about attitudes towards the Ukraine conflict.
“The majority of respondents support the actions of the Russian armed forces in Ukraine. Among the motives of support: ‘protection of the Russian-speaking population’ and ‘border security,'” the press release reads, according to a Google translation.
The research organization also focused on how many people are watching the conflict and what their ages are. Of the respondents, 64 percent of Russians said they were closely following the situation around Ukraine, while 35 percent said they were practically not following it.
Of the 64 percent who said they were following the situation closely, 29 percent said they were doing so very carefully, and 35 percent said they were following the situation fairly closely. Of the 35 percent who said they didn’t follow, 27 percent followed without paying much attention, and 8 percent didn’t follow at all.
“People over the age of 55 are most likely to follow events,” the press release said.
“Seventy-six percent of them are observing attentively, from the group of 40 to 54 year olds 70 percent of the respondents are following carefully, from the group of 25 to 39 year olds about half (51 percent), in the youngest group 18-24 years old – 43 percent.”
This increased support continues despite international criticism of Putin for launching the invasion and underestimating Ukraine’s military.
The chief of the British armed forces said Putin had “already lost” the conflict with Ukraine because of this miscalculation.
Admiral Sir Tony Radakin, the chief of defense staff, made the comments Thursday during an event hosted by the independent think tank Institute for Government (IFG).
“Like all authoritarians, he was fooled about his own strength, including the effectiveness of the Russian armed forces,” Radakin said.
“In many ways, Putin has already lost. Far from being the farsighted manipulator of events he would have us believe. Putin has harmed himself through a series of catastrophic miscalculations.”