Most-Russians-say-they-support-the-military-according-to-this-pollster--NPR-a

It will heighten concerns about the strength of the post-1989 international order and America’s ability to influence it. In Russia, state-run newspapers and media outlets blame the West for aggression, mirroring the Kremlin's language. Viktor isn't worried either, but does get basic military training at his university, which is common in Ukraine.

• That means they're on conflicting sides — and feel the shunning of Russia most of all.









• "We need independent media to stop the war and then try and improve life in Russia at least to a degree."









• But the problem with measuring public opinion in a country under authoritarian rule and censorship, Botchkovar says, is that the data are highly imperfect.









• Russia also supplied military personnel, mercenaries and other resources in support of a small but militant minority of pro-Russian separatists in the largely Russian-speaking cities of Donetsk and Luhansk in Ukraine’s east.









• Most of the Russian public also opposes any use of nuclear weapons by Moscow.

MOSCOW — Waiting for her friends on Moscow’s primly landscaped Boulevard Ring earlier this week, Svetlana Kozakova admitted that she’d had a sleepless night. She kept checking the news on her phone after President Vladimir V. Putin’s aggrieved speech to the nation on Monday that all but threatened Ukraine with war. By that, he means that those who were most connected to the outside world might have been less inclined to support Putin's military operation, but now find themselves cut off from the West.

Kira*, 20, Moscow – ‘I don’t want to live in isolation here’

Because of everything escalating so rapidly, I’m anxious about whether I’ll have issues renewing it due to me being Russian. I have a colleague in my laboratory who is a reviewer at an open access science publisher. Now, those who want to publish and are affiliated with Russia have been asked to withhold applications, though they have not yet been officially withdrawn. The same thing with conferences – international events that take place in Moscow are all cancelled.

• Putin ordered the first mobilization on September 21, 2022, despite the fact that, weeks earlier, the Kremlin itself denied that it had planned to take such a step.









• In mid-March, Aleksei Miniailo, a former social entrepreneur and current opposition politician, oversaw another telephone survey with the aim of trying to capture the effects of fear and propaganda on survey data.









• Late last summer, a small group of mothers, wives and girlfriends of civilians, whom the Kremlin forced into military service in the Ukraine war in autumn 2022, started a Telegram channel to call for the soldiers’ return.









• As it thaws, it creates massive problems for infrastructure built on top of it, causing roads to buckle, building foundations to crack and pipelines to break.

The fate of Ukraine has enormous implications for the rest of the continent, the health of the global economy and even America’s place in the world. Going to war is one of Russians’ greatest fears, according to the Levada Center, an independent pollster. And after https://telegra.ph/When-Fake-News-Unraveled-a-Small-Town-04-18 . Putin’s angry speech and his cryptic televised meeting with his Security Council on Monday, Russians realized that possibility was lurching closer toward becoming reality.

Photos: Ukraine says it’s survived its ‘most difficult winter’

By mid-2014, positive views of Russia had fallen to 52 percent. Kremlin propagandists work iteratively, piloting slightly different messages successively and rolling them out in waves when their analysis signals that they are needed. Since the invasion, Russian state-sponsored propaganda waves elevated public sentiment toward the war for an average of 14 days across all regions and topics. As the war in Ukraine drags on, though, these positive waves of public sentiment are getting shorter, particularly outside the major cities, and are needing to be deployed with increasing frequency across Russia. Where I am, people typically express their opinion at rallies, on social networks and among their inner circle.

• Your support, no matter how small, makes a world of difference.









• Many who study and report on Russia, me included, believe a small percentage of people actively support the war, and a small percentage actively oppose it.









• Even before the war, Russia was not the kind of place where you willy-nilly shared your political beliefs with strangers, let alone with those who called out of the blue.

That’s despite a backdrop of unceasing vitriol directed toward Ukraine on state television, and the persistent, oft-repeated idea that it is external attacks that require Russia to take defensive measures. ” — showed that there is little enthusiasm for a “real,” large-scale war among members of Russia’s modern, urban society (the country’s military operations in Syria and eastern Ukraine in recent years were not seen as real wars). The longer the war drags on, the deeper the human and economic toll in Russia, which will almost invariably impact public opinion, Botchkovar says.

Russia Regains Upper Hand in Ukraine’s East as Kyiv’s Troops Struggle

That means they're on conflicting sides — and feel the shunning of Russia most of all. Volkov says these polls are conducted face-to-face, and people are assured of anonymity. Still, he notes, the survey results reveal at least as much about what people are willing to say in public than about how they truly feel. But 66 percent of Russians aged between 18 and 24 have a positive or very positive attitude toward Ukraine.

• Companies, too, have closed their doors in Russia, including fast-food giant McDonald’s which has temporarily shut its roughly 850 outlets.









• MOSCOW — Waiting for her friends on Moscow’s primly landscaped Boulevard Ring earlier this week, Svetlana Kozakova admitted that she’d had a sleepless night.









• King's academics share expert analysis of the war in Ukraine following Russia's invasion.









• AI-enabled sentiment data analysis can provide a window into how Russians feel and how fickle public sentiment is.

By siding with the more militant part of the pro-war camp, which has long demanded mobilisation, Mr Putin may force doubters to pick a side and thus polarise society. He calculates that the greater (though still limited) involvement of the Russian population in Ukraine may push Russians to support their boys in uniform more strongly. It will drive a wedge between families whose members fight, and those whose run for the border or curse the war. According to recent opinion polls, conducted by pollsters such as the Levada Centre which has offices in Moscow, 70-75% of respondents in Russia support the war with Ukraine. (These surveys were conducted before Mr Putin announced his mobilisation drive.) But these shocking figures are deceptive.

"You will not silence us," Meduza said in a defiant statement. "We need independent media to stop the war and then try and improve life in Russia at least to a degree." There is more variety of opinion in the press, but it still largely sticks to the Kremlin line. A stalwart of independent reporting for almost 29 years, the Novaya Gazeta newspaper, suspended operations on 28 March after receiving warnings from Russia's media watchdog Roskomnadzor. Overall, the war’s outcome will depend on the mood of the group who support it and on the group of conformists who go along with it.