Russians tired of war: new poll shows 65% back peace talks

Sociologists are recording growing war fatigue in Russia: in an October poll, 65 percent of respondents supported starting peace talks with Ukraine. The public mood has been worsening for some time.

Experts attribute the shift mainly to accumulated exhaustion. “Fatigue and irritation are growing very fast. The war has worn everyone out,” Oleg Zhuravlev, co-founder of Russia’s Laboratory of Public Sociology, told the portal United24. He was commenting on results from the independent Levada Center, which has long tracked the mood of Russian society.

Earlier polls showed that Russians’ fear of another mobilization had hit a three-year high and that dissatisfaction with Vladimir Putin’s policies had grown noticeably. In 2022, according to their data, a rather positive mood still prevailed.

The war has come closer to home

Regular polls by the Public Opinion Foundation also show that anxiety is becoming a long-term trend. According to their data, since about April the level of anxiety has stayed equal to or higher than the sense of calm. That is roughly when strikes on Russian infrastructure intensified.

These are primarily attacks on oil refineries, which have caused fuel shortages. Large online-retail warehouses and data centers have also been hit. Internet service outages, delivery problems and fuel shortages are increasingly affecting daily life.

A blow to the wallet

Russians’ real disposable incomes grew by three percent from January to September, but the pace of growth slowed markedly: a year earlier, the same period saw growth of 8.3 percent. According to Russia’s Deposit Insurance Agency, the volume of bank deposits of up to one million rubles fell by 8.1 percent from January to September, while the number of depositors barely changed. This may suggest that some people are gradually spending their financial reserves.

Uncertainty and peace talks

The uncertainty is also evident in the fact that half of respondents cannot say what awaits them even in the coming months. According to Lev Gudkov, scientific director of the Levada Center, the unclear course of the war plays a big role: many can no longer guess how long the conflict will last.

Zhuravlev adds that, in his view, a significant share of Russians do not sufficiently understand the goals of the conflict and its political causes. In the October poll, 65 percent of respondents favored peace talks: 35 percent unequivocally, and another 30 percent leaned that way.

Around Prague, based on reporting by novinky.cz