Putin’s anti-rating: why Russians are not ready for mass protests

Russia’s domestic situation is showing signs of destabilization due to economic turmoil and a protracted conflict. According to official Russian polls, distrust of the dictator has reached 24%, the highest level since February 2022.

The main factors of public discontent are the sharp rise in prices, the blocking of popular Internet resources, and general fatigue from hostilities.

Political scientist Oleksandr Paliy, in a conversation on “Pryamoy”, noted that official figures may be significantly underestimated due to total self-censorship in Russian society.

“If an official state institution, that 23% are ready to say no, then the situation there is much worse. Well, as for the rallies, I must say that there will be a collapse, you know, there will be chaos in Russia, there will be non-payments, there will be some kind of spontaneous riots,” he is convinced.

According to experts, popular protests are unlikely to change the regime due to the lack of citizen subjectivity, but a split among the elites or a coup at the top is possible.

At the same time, another guest on the air on “Pryamoy”, a veteran of the Russian-Ukrainian war, Oleksiy Petrov, drew a parallel with the collapse of the Soviet Union, when a seemingly stable system instantly disappeared, despite the powerful punitive apparatus of the KGB and the police.

As a reminder, public discontent is growing in Russia amid the protracted war against Ukraine, economic hardship, and restrictions on internet access. Vladimir Putin’s approval rating has fallen to 65.6% , the lowest level since the start of the war.

Meanwhile, the economic situation in Russia continues to deteriorate under the influence of sanctions and high interest rates. According to Rosstat, the economy shrank by 1.8% in the first 2 months of the year, and the volume of overdue payments reached $109 billion. As The Washington Post notes , despite the growing discontent, there are currently no signs of the authorities losing control of the situation, but repression may intensify in response.

It was previously reported that Ukrainian special services obtained recordings of telephone conversations of the head of the Central Bank of Russia, Elvira Nabiullina, who in a private conversation gave extremely pessimistic forecasts about the stability of the Russian financial system in the coming months. These data differ significantly from the official Kremlin propaganda.

By the way, the leader of the Russian communists, Gennady Zyuganov, has stated that there is a risk of a repeat of the 1917 revolution in Russia amid economic problems and growing discontent. According to him, the Russian economy is rapidly deteriorating, and he called the first quarter of the year a “complete disaster.” Zyuganov called on the authorities to urgently make financial and economic decisions, otherwise the country could face a scenario similar to the events of 1917 in the fall.