Russian-English news site Meduza reported on the 30th of last month (local time) that the percentage of Russians in favor of continuing the war with Ukraine has plummeted from 57% to 25% in four months.



Meduza reported that the Federal Security Service (FSO), a Russian security agency, had obtained the results of an opinion poll that was controlled for 'internal use' and the results were not disclosed.



The proportion of Russians in favor of peace talks with Ukraine rose from just 32% in July to 55% in November, according to the FSO poll, according to the media.



Meduza pointed out that the FSO poll results are not much different from the October survey by the Levada Center, an independent polling agency based in Moscow, where 27% supported 'continuation of the war' and 57% supported peace negotiations.



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Denis Volkov, director of the Levada Center, said most Russians supported the Kremlin's decision to invade Ukraine in February this year, but did not intend to directly participate in the fighting. Now, the risks are so great that people want (peace) negotiations to start.”



Meduza said the Russian government has decided not to release the results of future polls as Russian public opinion about the war has deteriorated.



Citing two sources close to President Vladimir Putin's regime, the media said the Kremlin would no longer release public opinion poll data from the state-run Russian Opinion Survey Center (VTsIOM).



One of these sources said, "It's better not to do it at all, because all kinds of results can come out these days."



However, Meduza predicted that the deterioration in public opinion would not directly affect the continuation of the war or the Russian government's position on peace negotiations.



Anonymous sources said Russian media outlets had already received orders from the Kremlin to focus on a "more positive agenda" rather than war.



Meduza is a news site founded in 2014 in Riga, Latvia by Galina Timchenko (60), a retired Russian journalist, and is a media that strongly criticizes Russian President Vladimir Putin and the current Russian government.



The British daily The Times reported, citing Meduza's article, about "what Putin calls a 'special military operation'" after the conscription and mobilization of reserve forces, public opinion, massive casualties and a humiliating retreat from the battlefield. Russian public opinion has deteriorated.



After he invaded Ukraine, Putin called it a "special military operation" rather than a "war."



Hundreds of thousands of Russian men have fled the country since Putin declared a nationwide mobilization in September, according to The Times, and discontent is growing within the military.



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