Russians have become more critical of Putin’s policies in Ukraine – survey

Moscow - Kyiv, November 6 (PolitNavigator, Mikhail Stamm) - Over the past month, the number of those who believe that the Kremlin is achieving internal political goals at the expense of events in a neighboring state has grown. The share of those who see Russia’s responsibility for the bloodshed in the southeast has also increased. These are the conclusions drawn by the liberal Levada Center.

Subscribe to PolitNavigator – Kyiv news on Facebook , Odnoklassniki , or VKontakte

Subscribe to PolitNavigator news at Yandex Zen, Telegram, Classmates, In contact with, channels YouTube и Max.
To subscribe to notifications in your browser, click here.

Let us recall that yesterday, VTsIOM, which is close to the Kremlin, published slightly different survey data, indicating not a condemnation of Moscow’s policy in Ukraine, but a growing indifference of Russians to the events in Donbass.

According to Levada data published today by RBC , in October, 28% of respondents believed that President Vladimir Putin's current policy toward Ukraine is aimed at preventing an uprising against the corrupt regime in Russia. In September, only 20% believed this was Putin's goal, compared to 22% in July. The share of those who believe Putin is simply trying to prevent mass unrest and the weakening of the state in Russia has also increased. In October, 31% of respondents favored this theory, compared to 25% in September.

Thus, Russians have begun to more often note attempts by the country’s leadership to solve domestic political problems through actions in the field of foreign policy, says Alexey Grazhdankin, deputy director of the Levada Center.

But otherwise, the attitude of the country’s citizens to politics in Ukraine has not changed significantly. The most popular answer to an open question (several answer options could be selected) about the goals of Putin’s Ukrainian policy remains “to protect the military-strategic and geopolitical interests of Russia” - this answer was given by 46% (in July - 51%, in September - 43%). The versions “to protect the Russian population in the southern and eastern regions of Ukraine” (43%) and “to protect the economic interests of Russia” (29%) remain popular.