Day 107 of the invasion: Russia publishes opinion poll saying that 80% of Russians believe Putin

ALYONA MAZURENKO - FRIDAY, 10 JUNE 2022, 15:50 

The Russian Public Opinion Research Centre (VCIOM) has published the results of an opinion poll that apparently shows that 78% of Russians approve of what President Vladimir Putin is doing and 80% believe him, despite the setbacks in the war with Ukraine.

Source: Russian Public Opinion Research Centre poll results published on 10 June

Quote: "When asked directly whether they trust Vladimir Putin, 80.8% of respondents answered positively. Mikhail Mishustin [Prime Minister of Russia] is trusted by 63.5% of respondents, Gennady Zyuganov [General Secretary of the Communist Party] by 33.1%, Sergei Mironov [leader of A Just Russia] by 29.2%, Leonid Slutsky [leader of the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia] by 17.9%, and Alexey Nechayev [chairman of the New People party] by 10.1%.

Details: Putin's approval rating from 30 May to 5 June 2022 was 78.3%.

It is also reported that the level of positive assessment of the work of the Prime Minister and the Russian government over the past week amounted to 53.4% ​​and 52.9% respectively.

Important: The media outlet IStories (Vazhnye Istorii) points out that there are practically no legal ways left in Russia to speak out against the war. People face up to 15 years in prison for a comment on social media, or holding up a sign with asterisks on it [instead of words] or the book War and Peace.

Russians are afraid to express their true opinion about the war in opinion polls.

Sociologists say that is the reason why the polls show that the ‘special operation’ enjoys a high level of support among the population.

Background:

• In four months, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s administration has received 1.2 million complaints against the Ministry of Defence, of which almost 42,000 concerned problems with finding missing relatives in the war with Ukraine.
• Russian media sources say that the results of opinion polls often have to be changed in order to please the authorities.
• The results of opinion polls on the war in Ukraine published by Russian sociologists have remained virtually unchanged since the full-scale invasion began on 24 February 2022.
• Overall, Russia claims that between 70 and 80% of Russians support the war with Ukraine and Putin’s actions.