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Russia organizes campaign to justify drop in putin's rating due to situation in Kursk Oblast - ISW

Russia organizes campaign to justify drop in putin's rating due to situation in Kursk Oblast - ISW

According to the experts of the Institute for the Study of War (ISW), the kremlin is conducting a complex information campaign to justify the drop in the rating of the ruler of russia, vladimir putin, due to the situation in the Kursk Oblast.

This is stated in another analytical report of the ISW experts.

American analysts point out that russian state sociological agencies recognize some growing dissatisfaction among russians with putin and the russian government against the backdrop of Ukraine's incursion of the Kursk Oblast.

The Public Opinion Foundation, a russian state sociological institution, published on August 30 a poll conducted on August 25 that found that 28% of respondents expressed outrage or dissatisfaction with the actions of the russian authorities in the past month.

According to experts, this is more than 25% and 18% in surveys conducted by this Foundation on August 11 and July 28, respectively.

Survey respondents have not expressed such high levels of dissatisfaction since the poll was conducted in November 2022, after the first month of an unpopular partial mobilization in russia.

Russia's state-owned Public Opinion Research Center (VCIOM) noted that putin's approval rating fell 3.5 percent to 73.6 percent between August 12 and 18 – ISW notes that this is putin's lowest rating, even among kremlin pollsters, since the start of a full-scale invasion in February 2022.

Russia's Public Opinion Research Center released its latest poll on Putin's approval rating on August 30, showing an additional 1.2 percent drop to 72.4 percent between August 19 and 25.

"These polls from Russian state-owned polling agencies do not suggest particularly pronounced discontent nor are they reliable reflections of the actual sentiments in Russian society.

The polls do suggest, however, that the Kremlin assesses that it must recognize that societal discontent has risen since the start of Ukraine's incursion into Kursk Oblast," the post from ISW said.

The review notes that the kremlin likely hopes that a limited acknowledgment of public discontent will protect it from accusations that it is ignoring russian public concerns about the Ukrainian invasion.

"The Kremlin likely hopes that limited acknowledgment of societal discontent will guard against accusations that it is ignoring Russian society's concern about the Ukrainian incursion. The Kremlin appears to have launched an intricate messaging campaign aimed at justifying to its domestic audience why Russia is prioritizing the maintenance of offensive operations in eastern Ukraine over immediately expelling Ukrainian forces from Kursk Oblast, and limited acknowledgments of discontent may be a part of this campaign," American experts point out.

ISW Key Takeaways for August 30:

European Union member state officials continue to express divergent views about Ukraine's ability to use European-provided weapons to strike military targets in russia.

Russian sources claimed that Ukrainian and russian forces made marginal gains in the Kursk Oblast on August 30.

Russian state-owned polling agencies are recognizing limited upticks in russian domestic discontent towards russian president vladimir putin and russian authorities amid the Ukrainian incursion into the Kursk Oblast.

Venezuela extradited Colombian citizens who fought as members of the Ukrainian military to russia, demonstrating growing russian-Venezuelan cooperation and Venezuelan support for russia's war.

Hungary and russia continue to deepen their bilateral cooperation.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy dismissed Lieutenant General Mykola Oleshchuk as Ukrainian Air Force Commander on August 30.

Russian forces recently advanced near Svatove, Pokrovsk, and Donetsk City.

French outlet Le Monde reported on August 30 that about 100 mercenaries from the russian "Bear Brigade" private military company departed Burkina Faso to join russian forces fighting in the Kursk Oblast.