Support for Vladimir Putin within Russia has dipped, according to a poll which has shown the highest level of dissatisfaction with the country's authorities since the president announced a partial mobilization nearly two years ago.
The survey was by the state-owned Public Opinion Research Center (VCIOM) whose polls typically reflect Kremlin interests and are not a real snapshot of public opinion because of the tightly-controlled media environment where dissent is punished.
But independent Russian media outlets have said that the findings suggest some shift in public mood toward Putin and the authorities, amid the backdrop of Ukraine's incursion into Russia's Kursk Oblast launched on August 6, in which Kyiv said it had captured nearly 500 square miles of territory.
VCIOM said its phone poll of 1,600 adults across the country conducted between August 23 and August 25 had a one percent margin of error. Putin's approval rating, according to the survey, was 72.4 percent—down 4.7 percent from the 77.1 percent support he had in a poll between August 5 to August 11.
The Institute for the Study of War (ISW) described the figure as "a record fall in Putin's approval rating, even among Kremlin pollsters, since the start of the full-scale invasion in February 2022."
The poll also found that distrust of Putin, at 13 percent, was at its highest level among Russians since December 2023.
When asked about whether the Russian government was doing a good or a bad job, 28 percent of respondents were dissatisfied. Independent online outlet Verstka noted that this was the lowest figure since the 30 percent recorded on November 6, 2022, a month after Putin announced a partial mobilization to replenish troops in Ukraine, which was condemned as botched.
"The number of dissatisfied respondents began to grow in July and their number increased in early August, when Ukraine's forces invaded the Kursk region," Verstka said in a Telegram post.
In reporting the figures, the independent Agentsvo outlet said, "there has not been such a drop in both indicators since the beginning of the war.
In assessing the poll, the ISW said that it does not suggest pronounced discontent in Russia but does signal that the Kremlin believes it has to recognize public unhappiness has increased since the start of the Kursk operation.
A separate poll between August 22 and 28 by Russia's independent Levada Center, found Russians' trust in Putin was 45 percent, a drop of three percentage points from July.
The ISW said that the Kremlin has launched "an intricate messaging campaign" to justify why it is focusing on the front in eastern Ukraine over immediately expelling Ukrainian forces from Kursk Oblast, "and limited acknowledgments of discontent may be a part of this campaign."
Newsweek has contacted the Kremlin for comment.
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