Russian domestic discontent towards Putin growing amid Ukrainian incursion into Kursk region - ISW

This is stated in the report by the Institute for the Study of War (ISW), Ukrinform saw.

As noted, the Public Opinion Foundation, a Russian state-owned polling institution, published a poll on August 30 that it conducted on August 25 showing that 28 percent of respondents expressed outrage or dissatisfaction with the actions of Russian authorities over the past month. This is up from 25 percent and 18 percent in polls that the Public Opinion Foundation conducted on August 11 and July 28, respectively.

According to analysts, the level of dissatisfaction has not been this high since the polling conducted in November 2022, following the first month of the deeply unpopular partial mobilization in Russia.

At the same time, the Russian state-owned Public Opinion Research Center (VCIOM) noted that Putin's approval rating fell by 3.5 percent to 73.6 percent between August 12 and 18. According to ISW, this is a record fall in Putin's approval rating, even among Kremlin pollsters, since the start of the full-scale invasion in February 2022.

The latest poll on Putin's approval rating released by VCIOM on August 30 showed an additional 1.2 percent decline to 72.4 percent between August 19 and 25.

"These polls from Russian state-owned polling agencies do not suggest particularly pronounced discontent nor are they reliable reflections of the actual sentiments in Russian society. The polls do suggest, however, that the Kremlin assesses that it must recognize that societal discontent has risen since the start of Ukraine's incursion into Kursk Oblast," the ISW report said.

According to the think-tank, the Kremlin likely hopes that limited acknowledgment of societal discontent will guard against accusations that it is ignoring Russian society's concern about the Ukrainian incursion in Kursk region.

"The Kremlin appears to have launched an intricate messaging campaign aimed at justifying to its domestic audience why Russia is prioritizing the maintenance of offensive operations in eastern Ukraine over immediately expelling Ukrainian forces from Kursk Oblast, and limited acknowledgments of discontent may be a part of this campaign," the ISW report reads.

As reported earlier, at the General Staff meeting on August 30, AFU Commander-in-Chief, Oleksandr Syrskyi, reported that the Ukrainian forces had advanced up to two kilometers in Kursk region and had taken control of another 5 km² of territory.