MOSCOW, 23 December 2025. The VCIOM Analytical Center presents the results of a survey describing what political events that happened in 2025 Russians will remember most.

Person of the year

The end of the year has always been a time to sum up the results, not only personal or professional but also political. The VCIOM Analytical Center has studied how Russians look back on the outgoing year, who they consider to be person (hero) of the year, and what political expectations they have for the coming year.

President has become person of the year according to Russians; V.Putin’s name appears in responses most often. Over the last two years the level of public trust in V.Putin has been steadily high (79%), as well as public approval of the president’s activities in foreign policy (74%).  This is followed by a collective image of the main heroes of the outgoing year - SMO soldiers and military personnel in general. Other politicians were also mentioned (S.Lavrov, M.Mishustin, A.Belousov). For some respondents, heroes are their close ones or even themselves. In other words, the 2025 heroism is distributed across the defense of the country, its governance and individual’s resilience in daily routine, a type of three levels of ensuring the resilience of the state and society in difficult times for the country.

Most significant events of the year

Russia-Ukraine talks were the most remarkable topic in 2025; the most visible event was a high-profile Putin-Trump meeting in Alaska. Other significant events were Russia-US talks, Trump-Zelensky meeting, and direct talks between Russia and Ukraine. Other events that should be highlighted are celebration of the 80^th anniversary of the victory in the Great Patriotic war, success of the Russian army in the SMO (liberation of Sudzha), a number of international events (Trump’s inauguration, conflict between Israel and Iran) and domestic events (Direct Line with the President, local elections in the regions).  

Is it success?

Political success appears to be dominant in the assessments of the year 2025. At the same time expectations from 2026 look even more optimistic. People keep living hoping for improvements and political normalization. Older generations show a more stable optimism; young Russians are still cautious: they either have doubts or admit that next year can be politically unsuccessful.

One wish from everyone

Political expectations for the year 2026 seem diverging: a majority is waiting for the SMO to be finished and the goals achieved. The remainder topics (foreign policy, sanctions, economy, social agenda) seem secondary.

Foreign policy direction is seen as a hope for normalization (including sanctions and symbolic markers such as sport), whereas economic and social expectations are seen as a strive to get back to normal after the Russia-Ukraine conflict is over.

Russian VCIOM-Sputnik telephone survey was conducted December 13, 2025. A total of 1,600 respondents aged 18 and older took part in the survey. Survey method: telephone interview, stratified random sample based on a complete list of mobile phone numbers in use in Russia. The data were weighted for socio-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.

Key effectiveness indicators, survey of 13 December 2025: cooperation rate (CR)* = 0.6706; minimum response rate (MRR)** = 0.0233; response rate (RR)*** = 0.0478. Calculations are based on corporate standard:

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

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

 ** RR is calculated in the same way as MRR, with the only difference that the number of respondents with unknown eligibility decreases proportional to the percentage of eligible cases in the total number of respondents with identified eligibility or non-eligibility.

*Events that gained at least 10% and more responses when asked: Last week was full of economic, political, sport and cultural events. What events have you remembered, what events have made you sad or happy?” (open-ended question, % of respondents over a week, no more than 3 answers).

**Event could be at the top for several weeks. Table shows peak visibility.
 

Author: Tatyana Smak