What's wrong with Russia? She's tired

The answer “tired” to the question about military actions replaces the previously usual “don’t care.” Data from sociologists

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The biting expression - “weariness from war” - speaks about the state of souls, not bodies, does not speak about horrors and defeats, not about victories and triumphs, but about some general result (and, indeed, about the absence of a result). This fatigue can come to supporters of military action and to those who were against it; it can come to one of the warring parties, or maybe to both.

We can find out whether it has come to our cities and villages from a survey conducted by the Laboratory of the Future of Novaya Gazeta and Levada Center*. Two questions were asked.

In the first question, Russians were asked to speak about the mood of Russians. They were asked to choose what feelings, in their opinion, Russians mostly experience in connection with the ongoing special military operation. There were options to choose from: inspiration, indifference or fatigue from military operations. Let us emphasize right away: those who are actually fighting and are in the combat zone did not participate in the survey. The answers were given by those who accompanied them there, waited and thought about them or tried not to think...

So, just under 15% found it difficult to answer the first question. Almost the same number chose answers about feeling “inspiration” (9%) and “indifference” (5%).

The main answer, chosen by almost three quarters of respondents (73%), was precisely the answer about “fatigue from military operations.”

This question found out, as said, people's opinions about the feelings of other people.

But the second question was: “What feelings do you personally experience in connection with the ongoing SVO?” The tips were similar. You could choose the answer “I’m mostly excited about our successes” (chosen by 26%), or “mostly I don’t care” (7%), or, finally, “I’m tired of it all” (52%). There were almost the same number of people who found it difficult to answer (15%).

Women were noticeably more likely than men to talk about the spread of “war fatigue” (78% versus 66%), while rural residents were noticeably more likely than residents of the capital (75% versus 62%). In general, workers experience this fatigue more often than others and the answer “tired” is chosen more often.

Prosperity is important: the richer people are, the more inspired they are by our military successes and the less tired and “tired” they feel.

It is important to note that, although not as significant, the absolute majority (52%) chose the answer with the word “tired” in the second question, which is consistent with the answer about general fatigue from military operations from the first question. The wording is sharper, and it had an effect. But we can say with confidence that this result confirms the non-randomness of the “fatigue” result.

Let us also note that there were very few answers about indifference in which one could “hide” in both the first and second questions, two to three times less than even evasions from answering. This means that respondents considered it important to have the opportunity during the survey to express society’s and their own fatigue from current events.

Finally, we note that the described feelings of fatigue and irritation are not the result of hostile propaganda or insinuations from the “opposition.” “Fatigue” is stated by a majority of 70% of the majority for whom television is the main source of information, 70% of the majority who say that things are generally going “in the right direction”, 71% of those who approve of Vladimir Putin’s activities as President of the Russian Federation.

And among them, the answer with the word “tired” is also the most common.

* Recognized as a “foreign agent” in Russia.