"Stop the War Now"... More Than Half of Russians Support Peace Negotiations

Increase in Support for Negotiations After Armed Rebellion
'Failed Rebellion' Prigozhin's Approval Rating Cut by One Third

More than half of Russians support peace negotiations to end the war in Ukraine.

Bloomberg News reported on the 29th of last month (local time), citing the latest poll results, that voices supporting peace talks with Ukraine have grown in Russia following the armed rebellion by the Russian mercenary company Wagner Group.

Russian Wagner Group mercenaries, who launched an armed rebellion targeting the Russian military leadership, are preparing to withdraw from the southern city of Rostov-on-Don, which they had occupied on the 24th (local time).
[Photo by EPA·Yonhap News]

According to a survey conducted by the Russian polling agency Levada Center from the 22nd to the 28th of last month, among 16,434 Russians, 53% supported peace negotiations. This figure represents an 8 percentage point increase compared to the previous survey. In particular, support for negotiations increased further after the armed rebellion occurred on the 23rd and 24th. On the other hand, only 39% of respondents supported the war.

The response favoring a diplomatic end to the war had significantly increased in September last year when Russia issued a partial mobilization order targeting reservists, but it somewhat decreased in May this year when Russian forces captured Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine.

Russia and Ukraine have yet to narrow their differences regarding peace negotiations. The Russian government has so far accused Ukraine of avoiding peace talks.

Meanwhile, Ukraine has stated that it will not consider talks until Russian forces withdraw from Ukrainian territory. Ukraine has set the restoration of not only the occupied territories taken by Russia in this war but also the Crimean Peninsula as a precondition for peace negotiations. President Zelensky declared, "A just peace is not a compromise on sovereignty and territory," clearly expressing his determination to reclaim Ukrainian territory taken by Russia.

Denis Volkov, director of the Levada Center, said, "Many respondents are concerned that the Russian military may face greater difficulties in Ukraine due to the rebellion," adding, "Generally, many people want the war to end as soon as possible."

Public support for Yevgeny Prigozhin, who led the Wagner Group's armed rebellion, has sharply declined. The proportion of people who said they would support Prigozhin in next year's Russian presidential election was 19% before the armed rebellion, but it plummeted to 6% after the rebellion failed. In contrast, the approval rating of Russian President Vladimir Putin showed little change before and after the armed rebellion incident.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.