MOSCOW, 30 June 2022. Russian Public Opinion Research Center (VCIOM) presents the findings of a survey about the Russian attitudes towards Russia’s special military operation in Ukraine.

In recent four months public support for the special military operation in Ukraine has not been changing much: the recent data show that 72% of Russians are likely to support the special operation; 17% are unlikely to support it; 11% remain undecided. 

The way Russians understand the goals of the special military operation has been stable. According to 38%, the main goal is to protect Russia, to disarm Ukraine and not to allow NATO to deploy military bases in Ukraine. Every fifth respondent considers that the mission is to protect the population in Donbas (DPR and LPR) (20%). A further 19% say that the goal is to change Ukraine’s political course and to “denazify” the country; 8% say the main aim is to occupy Ukraine and incorporate it into the Russian territory.  

Public and personal protest moods have been at low levels: as of June 25 data  11% of Russians think protests are likely in their area; in June last year a quarter of respondents thought the same way (VI.2021 — 24%). Eleven percent of respondents say they are ready to take part in protests; 83% will unlikely take part in protests if they take place.

Russian nationwide VCIOM-Sputnik surveys were conducted on April 12, 24, May 12, 26, June, 12, 25, 2022. A total of 1,600 of Russians aged 18 and older took part in each survey. Results are based on telephone interviews. Survey method: telephone interviews using a stratified random sample based on a complete list of Russian mobile phone numbers. The data were weighted according to selection probability and social and demographic characteristics. The margin of error at a 95% confidence level does not exceed 2.5%. In addition to sampling error, minor changes to the wording of questions and different circumstances arising during the fieldwork can introduce bias into the survey.

June 12, 2022 survey key effectiveness indicators: 1,600 complete interviews; cooperation rate (COOP1)* = 0.8130; minimum response rate (RR1)** = 0.0223; response rate (RR3)*** = 0.1513.

June 25, 2022 survey key effectiveness indicators: 1,601 complete interviews; cooperation rate (COOP1)* = 0.7902; minimum response rate (RR1)** = 0.0252; response rate (RR3)*** = 0.1875.

* The number of complete interviews divided by the sum of: а) complete interviews and b) non-interviews with eligible respondents.

** The number of complete interviews divided by the sum of: а) complete interviews, b) interrupted interviews after successful screening and c) all the telephone numbers where it is unknown whether the subscribers meet the selected criteria or not.

*** The number of complete interviews divided by the sum of: а) complete interviews, b) interrupted interviews after successful screening and c) all the telephone numbers with respect to the assessment of the percentage of eligible cases in the total number of cases of unknown eligibility.