70% of Russians support war in Ukraine, but 50% want peace talks

22 October 20236 months ago babelfish

Russia's war against Ukraine is not just Vladimir Putin's war, as confirmed by a poll taken by the German newspaper Die Welt . Lev Gudkov, scientific director of Russia's only independent polling institute, Levada since February 24, 2022 regularly holds a poll on the question: “Do you personally support the actions of the Russian Armed Forces in Ukraine or not?”

The result is impressive: even after about 20 months of brutal fighting and high casualties in their ranks, 73% of Russians still answer “yes” . Of course, many people consider it a patriotic duty to support the soldiers and others are perhaps afraid of being discovered, but the result is impressive.

In 2003 Gudkov founded the center together with the now deceased sociologist Yuri Levada. Both turned their backs on the Russian state polling institute Wziom, in protest at the Kremlin's growing control of labor. Today, exactly 20 years later, Wziom has long been criticized by independent experts. Lewada, on the other hand, also enjoys great international recognition, but the poll results would be seen as disappointing in the West.

European and American analysts say that the data is so supportive due to the fear of possible sanctions that affect those who criticize the "Special Operation", the Russian sweetened way of saying war, but the responses to Levada are kept anonymous. Is the support really just due to fear? However Levada is appreciated because

However, the work of the Levada Center is appreciated by many. Because it provides at least an idea of the state of mind of a society which, due to the lack of freedom of expression and massive repression, seems to be increasingly becoming a sort of black box.

50% of those interviewed are in favor of peace negotiations

In recent months, Gudkow and his colleagues have gained several insights. For example, many Russians don't actually want war, but believe it is inevitable. If more than 70% of respondents say that they support Russia's action in Ukraine, at the same time, in the same poll, about 50% are in favor of immediate peace negotiations. Furthermore, many people report feeling despair, fear and depression in view of the war.

The Russians most likely patriotically support the war in Ukraine, but, at the same time, they would like to see an end to it. Unfortunately for now there are no prospects of being able to open negotiations in the short term. For now the battlefields are filled with dead.

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The article 70% of Russians support war in Ukraine, but 50% want peace talks comes from Economic Scenarios .

This is a machine translation of a post published on Scenari Economici at the URL https://scenarieconomici.it/il-70-dei-russi-supporta-la-guerra-in-ucraina-ma-il-50-vorrebbe-trattative-di-pace/ on Sat, 21 Oct 2023 08:37:15 +0000.