ISW Names The Reason For Putin's Plummeting Rating

Russians are reacting more sharply than the authorities expected.

In the aggressor country Russia against the background of blocking the messenger Telegram, the trust rating to the illegitimate President Vladimir Putin has decreased by 5%. This is according to a report by the American Institute for the Study of War (ISW) on April 4.

Analysts have pointed out that people in Russia have recently reacted much more harshly and negatively to new restrictions on free speech than the authorities expected or were willing to accept. A poll conducted by the Kremlin-linked Forum for Public Opinion (FOM) in late March found that trust in Putin has fallen from 76% to 71%. This is the biggest drop since 2019, the institute noted.

The Kremlin chief's ratings began to decline in February, after the government began to significantly restrict Telegram usage. Even pro-Kremlin propagandists and war correspondents began criticizing the blocking of the messenger, complaining that the Kremlin was spending money on censorship despite price hikes and leaving Russian occupation troops without combat communication systems.

Russian officials are trying to deal with the backlash, but their statements are contradictory and show a lack of a clear strategy, ISW experts said. The founder of messenger Pavel Durov said 65 million Russians use a VPN to access Telegram every day, and attempts to block it have caused widespread disruptions in banking systems. Some reports of these disruptions were removed after corresponding demands from censor Roskomnadzor.

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