One of the independent survey institutions RussiaLevada Center, conducted a poll showing 83 percent of the country’s citizens support the President’s invasion Vladimir Putin ke Ukraine.
As reported The Moscow Times, Levada Center released the results of the survey last Wednesday (30/3). The survey results show 83 percent of respondents agree with Putin’s aggression against his neighboring country in March.
That figure is up from the previous months. Referring to the survey, 71 percent of respondents agreed with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, while in January, only 69 percent of citizens supported it.
In addition, more than half of Levada’s respondents, 59 percent, said they believed their country was “going in the right direction.”
However, observers worry that the poll results are inaccurate because the public tends to support leaders during wartime.
“The numbers just show this country is in a war situation, and people understand this, both respondents and non-respondents,” said a political analyst, Greg Yudin.
In addition, respondents are also likely to hide their opinion following Russia’s tough stance against those who oppose the war.
Furthermore, Russia also has a new law that criminalizes spreading “hoaxes” about the military. This rubber article can strike anyone who opposes war.
When Putin annexed Crimea in 2014, opinion polls also showed a large majority of citizens were in favor.
However, the director of the Levada Center, Denis Volkov, reminded the public not to equate the aggression in Ukraine with the Crimea issue in 2014.
“Current conditions are different. The conflict itself is bigger, and this, in theory, could strengthen the ratings of the authorities, but the economic consequences will be more significant,” Volkov said.
The Russian invasion of Ukraine has been going on for more than a month. According to Ukrainian government data, about 5,000 people died.
Meanwhile, according to United Nations (UN) records, the death toll since the invasion reached at least 1,119 civilians, and 1,790 were injured.
(isa/has)
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