January 06, 2025

Russians Unaffected by War


Russians Unaffected by War
Moscow's Red Square with a giant smiley face ball. Vyacheslav Argenberg, Wikimedia Commons.

Dissident Russian publication Verstka discovered the results of a poll conducted by The Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS) where nearly 30 percent of Russians said that the country's war in Ukraine was not affecting their lives in any way. The survey demonstrates that the population has become both used to and exhausted by the war. 

The war has become a backdrop in ordinary Russian's lives. The RAS poll, conducted in April 2024, showed that 29 percent Russians said they were "unaffected" by Russia's invasion of its neighbors, a three-point increase from the previous year. Despite government efforts to create illusions of stability, the survey showed that 12 percent of respondents reported that their daily expenses had grown since the start of the war. This percentage has grown by three points since 2023. 

Despite all of this, the poll demonstrated how connected many Russians are to the frontlines. One in 10 participants reported knowing a friend or family member fighting in the neighboring country. Some 4.3 percent of respondents said they knew someone who was killed or injured while at the front. This percentage has grown by one point since 2023. The survey showed that a quarter of Russians' report that their health deteriorated due to anxiety and fear of a nuclear war.

The poll also showed a drastic change in what Russians' believe are the goals of the war. In 2022, 26 percent of Russians believed their country should "liberate all Ukraine." By 2024, that number dropped to 15 percent. Exhausted by the prolongation of the invasion into a two-year war, Russians seem to want less and less Ukrainian territory. In 2022, only 14 percent of respondents said they would be happy if Russia conquered only a part of Ukraine and left Lviv, Ivano-Frankivsk, and other western regions of Ukraine untouched. The number of participants who wished the same thing rose to 20 percent in 2024.

Last year's survey also showed that 19 percent of Russians thought that the goal of the war was to "liberate" Donetsk and Lugansk. Yet 20 percent of respondents still wanted to capture "territory that once belonged to "Malorussia," which means they desired the complete annexation of Ukraine.

One out of four poll participants refused to answer the question of what tasks should be included in the "special military operation." Only one percent of respondents echoed the sentiments in President Vladimir Putin's speech at the start of the full-scale invasion, saying Russia should "destroy fascism, Nazisim, [and] Banderism" and "Ukraine, as a state, should not exist." 

You Might Also Like

A Pro-War Childhood?
  • October 31, 2024

A Pro-War Childhood?

Russian children are being instilled with militant patriotism through plays, stories, cartoons, and toys.
Like this post? Get a weekly email digest + member-only deals

Some of our Books

The Latchkey Murders
July 01, 2015

The Latchkey Murders

Senior Lieutenant Pavel Matyushkin is back on the case in this prequel to the popular mystery Murder at the Dacha, in which a serial killer is on the loose in Khrushchev’s Moscow...

Faith & Humor
December 01, 2011

Faith & Humor

A book that dares to explore the humanity of priests and pilgrims, saints and sinners, Faith & Humor has been both a runaway bestseller in Russia and the focus of heated controversy – as often happens when a thoughtful writer takes on sacred cows. The stories, aphorisms, anecdotes, dialogues and adventures in this volume comprise an encyclopedia of modern Russian Orthodoxy, and thereby of Russian life.

Bears in the Caviar
May 01, 2015

Bears in the Caviar

Bears in the Caviar is a hilarious and insightful memoir by a diplomat who was “present at the creation” of US-Soviet relations. Charles Thayer headed off to Russia in 1933, calculating that if he could just learn Russian and be on the spot when the US and USSR established relations, he could make himself indispensable and start a career in the foreign service. Remarkably, he pulled it of.

The Samovar Murders
November 01, 2019

The Samovar Murders

The murder of a poet is always more than a murder. When a famous writer is brutally stabbed on the campus of Moscow’s Lumumba University, the son of a recently deposed African president confesses, and the case assumes political implications that no one wants any part of.

A Taste of Russia
November 01, 2012

A Taste of Russia

The definitive modern cookbook on Russian cuisine has been totally updated and redesigned in a 30th Anniversary Edition. Layering superbly researched recipes with informative essays on the dishes' rich historical and cultural context, A Taste of Russia includes over 200 recipes on everything from borshch to blini, from Salmon Coulibiac to Beef Stew with Rum, from Marinated Mushrooms to Walnut-honey Filled Pies. A Taste of Russia shows off the best that Russian cooking has to offer. Full of great quotes from Russian literature about Russian food and designed in a convenient wide format that stays open during use.

Murder and the Muse
December 12, 2016

Murder and the Muse

KGB Chief Andropov has tapped Matyushkin to solve a brazen jewel heist from Picasso’s wife at the posh Metropole Hotel. But when the case bleeds over into murder, machinations, and international intrigue, not everyone is eager to see where the clues might lead.

Moscow and Muscovites
November 26, 2013

Moscow and Muscovites

Vladimir Gilyarovsky's classic portrait of the Russian capital is one of Russians’ most beloved books. Yet it has never before been translated into English. Until now! It is a spectactular verbal pastiche: conversation, from gutter gibberish to the drawing room; oratory, from illiterates to aristocrats; prose, from boilerplate to Tolstoy; poetry, from earthy humor to Pushkin. 

Jews in Service to the Tsar
October 09, 2011

Jews in Service to the Tsar

Benjamin Disraeli advised, “Read no history: nothing but biography, for that is life without theory.” With Jews in Service to the Tsar, Lev Berdnikov offers us 28 biographies spanning five centuries of Russian Jewish history, and each portrait opens a new window onto the history of Eastern Europe’s Jews, illuminating dark corners and challenging widely-held conceptions about the role of Jews in Russian history.

About Us

Russian Life is the 31-year-old publication of an award-winning publishing house that also creates books, and other products for Russophiles the world over.

Latest Posts

Our Contacts

Russian Life
73 Main Street, Suite 402
Montpelier VT 05602

802-223-4955