A month after Putin’s “special operation” in Ukraine began, the Levada Centre, a non-governmental polling organisation, carried out a survey to gauge public attitudes towards the conflict. The results were awaited with some trepidation. Some thought they would show public dissatisfaction with the leadership and that the president’s ratings would fall. Others demurred.
There were precedents. After Russia’s short war with Georgia in 2008, Vladimir Putin’s approval rating shot up to 88%. In 2014, after the annexation of Crimea, the same thing happened: the proportion of people who said they approved of his leadership once again rose to the same figure.
