Analysis & Opinions

Levada: Russians Still Support Peace Talks More Than War, But There’s a Caveat

| Sep. 07, 2023

The results of the Levada Center’s latest installment in its series of polls on Russians’ attitudes’ toward Russia’s war in Ukraine indicate that the share of peaceniks continues to exceed the share of war hawks among common Russians.

In fact, if adding the shares of those who definitely support and those who rather support the launch of peace negotiations (Option 1) with those who definitely support and those who rather support the continuation of the so-called special military operation (SVO) in Ukraine (Option 2), then total support for the launch of peace talks (Option 1) has exceeded total support for continued war (Option 2) in (almost) all monthly polls since September 2022,1 except for May 2023 (see Graph 1).

Levada’s August poll shows that Russians’ support for peace talks decreases as their age increases, but peaceniks still outnumber war hawks even among those 55 and older. As many as 64% of those aged between 18 and 24 called for peace talks in August.2 In comparison, of respondents aged 55 years and older, only 44% favored such talks in August (which is, however, still 1 percentage point more than the share of respondents in this age group who favored continuing the SVO), according to Levada.

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The full text of this publication is available via Russia Matters.
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For more information on this publication: Belfer Communications Office
For Academic Citation:

Saradzhyan, Simon.“Levada: Russians Still Support Peace Talks More Than War, But There’s a Caveat,” Russia Matters, September 7, 2023.

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