1/11
More than half of the Russian population supports peace with Ukraine. That shows a secret poll commissioned by the Kremlin.
Jenny WagnerEditor News
A rethink is taking place in the Russian population. Actually, the Kremlin wanted to keep the survey under wraps. No wonder: the numbers are anything but intoxicating. Only 25 percent of Russians support Putin’s Ukraine war. 55 percent are in favor of peace negotiations. Death should come to an end.
The results of the survey come from the FSO and were commissioned by the Kremlin. The FSO is a special agency responsible for protecting the government. And should prevent coup attempts, for example. The poll was never meant to be public.
However, the independent news portal Meduza was able to leak the data. The figures show that a large part of the Russian population is against the war in the neighboring country. The Levada Center, the only large independent sociological center in Russia, also notes such a tendency: 57 percent were “for” and “rather for” peace talks, 27 percent “for” and “rather for” a continuation of the war.
The big protests don’t happen
In July, just 30 percent of Russians voted for peace. Despite the attack on Ukraine, the population thought: “Life goes on and is even getting better,” says Denis Volkov, head of the Levada Center. A few months ago, the Russian people did not feel that the war affected them.
In the last six months, the number of peace advocates has doubled. And yet: there are hardly any demonstrations, the Russian people act passively and, according to experts, a coup is very unlikely. But why?
“Today, Russia is a totalitarian power state in which a single person cannot do anything against the absolute ruler,” says Eastern Europe expert Alexander Wöll (54), Slavicist at the University of Potsdam, to Blick.
“Many Russians still remember the chaotic conditions well”
Now your own risks have increased. On the one hand, the economy is suffering, on the other hand, there was a huge refugee movement due to the partial mobilization. And the Russians are losing more and more territory in Ukraine.
Wöll can well understand that the Russian population stood behind Putin for so long. “The 90s were marked by violence in Russia. Many Russians still remember the chaotic conditions well,” says the Slavist. That changed rapidly when Putin came to power. “For the first time in Russian history there was some kind of prosperity among the population.” Therefore, many would hesitate to publicly criticize Putin.
In twenty years, the head of the Kremlin has managed to establish a middle class in Russia. Previously, the gap between rich and poor was virtually insurmountable. When former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych (72) fled Ukraine to Russia in 2014, the Maidan conflict broke out and protests also flared up in Russia. Many people opposed the Russian military intervention in Ukraine. Shortly thereafter, Crimea was annexed.
Ironically, the middle class that made Putin rich is turning against him. «Putin had to react. Russia went from being an authoritarian to a totalitarian state – it is now almost Stalinist,” Wöll clarifies. Since the war began, Putin has also ensured that protests are nipped in the bud. Criticism of the Kremlin or politics can result in imprisonment.
Hardly any protests since March
Russians don’t even know about a democracy. The Eastern Europe expert on Blick: “The tradition of serfdom from the time of the Tsars has left its mark to this day.” That means: There is a ruler who can give his citizens everything and take everything. A single human life does not count. «The Russians are sent to the front without weapons, without equipment. That was already the case in the First World War,” explains Wöll.
Although the Russians no longer support the war for the most part, this has no influence on politics. Sources close to the Kremlin told Meduza that they feared no anti-war protests. And a statistic from OVD-Info about arrests of the demonstrations against the war shows: Hardly anyone takes to the streets anymore. In March, 15,343 Russian protesters were arrested. After that, the laws were tightened again and again. In November there were only 81 protesters.
Nevertheless, the authorities are concerned “not to heat up the situation and unnecessarily irritate people,” the source said. Surveys on the war should therefore no longer be conducted, instead opinion polls should focus on “more positive topics”. One thing is clear: the population wants peace negotiations. But neither Ukraine nor Russia are willing to make concessions. Russians already fear a new wave of mobilization in winter.