Russia Poll: Putin's Approval Shoots Up to 83%

Despite NATO allies denouncing Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine, an independent pollster in Moscow has found Russians rallying around the flag and giving Putin 83% approval on his actions, The New York Times reported Thursday.

The 83% approval is actually rising from his 69% in January before the invasion, according to the latest Levada Center poll.

The approval on Putin is up, along with many other government institutions and the governing party, according to the report.

After initial "shock and confusion" in Russia from the Feb. 24 invasion, pollster Denis Volkov wrote in the poll's analysis, the Times reported, "the confrontation with the West has consolidated people."

Russians believe "everyone is against us," and "Putin defends us, otherwise we would be eaten alive," Volkov continued, before concluding: "There is no euphoria, because this time the situation is much more serious and difficult. There are victims, and it is unclear when it will all end."

The Times admits, however, there is skepticism that polling out of Russia accurately depicts the true public opinion, even if Russia has declared this pollster, Levada, a "foreign agent."

Putin has pitched his invasion of Ukraine as a "special military operation" and now the country that features state-run media is suggesting the tagline be considered "the special operation in Ukraine," dropping the word military, perhaps to give the Kremlin room for a diplomatic resolution or present a less aggressive position on what the West widely considers a war or an invasion of a sovereign nation.

Russia has not only blocked social media platforms, but it has scared off independent media and enacted a law to punish "false information" about the Russian operation in Ukraine with a penalty up to 15 years in prison.

The Levada poll was conducted among more than 1,600 people in Russia and has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.4 percentage points.

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