Public trust in Putin collapsing to all-time low

Details of the sociological study

According to the outlet, the survey was conducted between June 19 and June 21, immediately after Moscow experienced its largest aerial attack. Within just one week, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s approval rating lost 5 percentage points — in mid-June it stood at 74%.

Sociologists note that the current figure of 69% is an absolute minimum for Putin over the entire period of the war against Ukraine.

For comparison, even during the announcement of mobilization in autumn 2022, the Ukrainian Armed Forces’ liberation of Kherson, or the armed mutiny led by Yevgeny Prigozhin in summer 2023, approval in FOM polls never fell below 74–76%.

At the same time, other negative trends for the ruling regime have been recorded in Russia:

• The number of Russians openly declaring distrust in the president increased from 15% to 18%
• Positive assessments of the government’s performance fell to 44%, the worst result in the past year
• Almost half of respondents (48%) complained about a sharp rise in fuel prices in the country

Meanwhile, another Russian state sociological agency — VTsVGD — published alternative data, claiming an "increase" in trust in the dictator to 76.7%.

Decline in Kremlin approval ratings

In recent times, Russia has increasingly shown signs of internal instability and declining public trust in the authorities amid a prolonged war. In particular, Russian leader Vladimir Putin recently faced a rare public demand from the State Duma (parliament) to present a clear plan to end hostilities against Ukraine.

At that time, one deputy openly stated that due to corruption, economic problems, and constant drone strikes, Russia was on the brink of a major social explosion.

In addition, the trend of rapidly declining approval ratings of the ruling elite is also confirmed by internal data from the Kremlin itself.

According to intercepted secret documents obtained by Ukrainian intelligence, Russian security services have already recorded a steady decline in support for the ruling party and have prepared the Kremlin leader for the fact that public dissatisfaction with the authorities will continue to grow at least until autumn.