A serious problem for the Kremlin. That is happening in the army of
Instead, most of the evidence indicates an increase in demoralization among Russian troops that are now fighting in Ukraine. The last monthly poll of public opinion from the only independent sociological service of Russia, which enjoys international authority, Levada-center, has found a slight increase in the number of Russians who support their country's war against Ukraine.
Published on August 1 and based on the results of a study conducted at the end of July, the survey found that 76% of Russians support hostilities in Ukraine. This is one percent more than in June 2022. It is obvious that one percent is not a significant change in public opinion, but a steadily high level of support over the last five months, combined with a slight trend in the growth in this latter survey indicates that the support of the Russians remains firm and strong.
The results of this new levad-center survey will be a alarming signal for anyone who hoped that Vladimir Putin would face an internal negative reaction, as the losses from invading Ukraine for Russian society will become more and more obvious.
On the contrary, it seems that the vast majority of Russians have acclimatized to a new military reality, despite the deterioration of the economic climate in their own country and the increase in the exposure of war crimes that commit Russian soldiers in Ukraine.
After the invasion of February 24 in Russia, many argued about the true level of the leading sentiment, and critics argued that in authoritarian societies, such as Putin Russia, polls cannot be considered as an indicator of public mood. It is also important to note that at the beginning of the war, the Kremlin introduced Draconian measures that actually forbade any public criticism of the invasion and gave long terms of imprisonment for its manifestation.
At the same time, it should be noted that few people have disagreed with the so -called "their". After a short wave of small -scale anti -war protests, which ended in the first weeks of the conflict, there was almost no anti -war movement in Russia.
Despite the very common initial reports of horror and anxiety in the Russian establishment to the decision of Putin to invade Ukraine, the political, business and cultural elite of the country has since been mobilized since then to support the Kremlin. There were very few resignations, and relatively few people preferred to leave the country, and mostly Russians prefer to remain silent.
If Russian society in general seems to have resigned to the war, it cannot be said about the country's armed forces. Demoralization reports among the invasion forces have become a common feature of their "their" over the last five months, as Russian losses continue to grow, becoming alarming. While the exact number of Russians killed and wounded in Ukraine is kept in strict secret, officials in the United States believe that this figure is already exceeding 75,000 and continues to grow.
Other calculations are slightly lower, but all serious sources outside Russia itself recognize that Russian losses are now calculated by tens of thousands. Meanwhile, Moscow's more desperate efforts to recruit new fighters indicate the extent of the crisis of living force faced by the Kremlin. Throughout Russia, potential recruits are lured into the trap with appetizing salaries, which are five to six times higher than the average average, promising short-term contracts.
In May, the Kremlin abolished age restrictions for recruits in a clear attempt to fill in the gaps created by severe losses in Ukraine. Recently, recruiters have taken up Russian prisons and offered the convicted person to sign a contract in exchange for amnesty. The current shortage of soldiers is largely explained by the unwillingness of Vladimir Putin to officially declare a war for Ukraine. Instead, he called the invasion of a "special military operation".
As a result, Russian contractors are not legally obliged to fight in Ukraine and can theoretically leave the army at any time. It is believed that thousands have already done this, which has led to increasingly desperate measures, because the Russian authorities seek to prevent more soldiers from leaving more.
This week, hundreds of Russian soldiers were held in the occupied Luhansk region in the occupied Luhansk region in the colonies of their own commanders after refusing to take any participation in the war. In one of the written testimonies published by the British newspaper Guardian, a Russian soldier stated that he was imprisoned after deciding to stop fighting "due to the fact that I consider the tactical and strategic mistakes of my commanders and their complete contempt for human life.
" The low moral spirit in the Russian troops is a serious problem for the Kremlin, since both Russia and Ukraine are preparing for the fact that, as many are now fearing, the war will be long. Ukraine has also suffered severe losses during the first five months of hostilities, but Ukrainian troops are highest motivated by the consciousness that they are fighting for their homeland against a foreign aggressor. Unlike their Russian enemies, they are nowhere to retreat.
In the following months, motivation will probably become a key factor. It is one of the categories in which the undeniable and dominant advantage on the side of the Ukrainian military. While the sofa benches of ordinary Russians are stronger, demoralization in the ranks of a real army can be a big problem for the Kremlin, since the end of the cruel war, solved by the Russian dictator, is not visible. The translation of HB has an exclusive right to translate and publish Peter Dickinson.