‘When will the war end?’ is dominant question for Putin ahead of next week’s Direct Line

A survey carried out by independent Russian polling organisation the Levada Centre has revealed that the question most respondents would like to ask Russian President Vladimir Putin during his Direct Line phone-in event next Thursday is when the war will end.

Some 21% of respondents answered that they would ask Putin “When will there be peace?”, “When will we win?”, “When will the special military operation end?” or “When will mobilisation end?”.

Another 8% of respondents said that they would ask Putin about low pensions and inadequate social assistance programmes, some 6% said they would like to know when Putin would step down, while 10% said they would not watch the live phone-in event at all.

In October, the Levada Centre conducted another survey on attitudes to the ongoing war in Ukraine. The number of Russians supporting continued hostilities was at its lowest level for the year, decreasing from 39% to 37%.

The lowest level of Russian popular support for the war was recorded in October last year, following the announcement of military mobilisation. At that point, just 36% of respondents said that they thought hostilities should continue, while 57% of respondents said they were in favour of peace negotiations.