Insights

On the 1-yr anniversary of the infamous Wagner mutiny, what does approval of Yevgeny Prigozhin look like in Russia? We've been tracking attitudes toward Prigozhin for over a year. Approval of Prigozhin tanked after the June 2-23-24, 2023 mutiny.

But in the weeks after the mutiny, approval recovered somewhat. After Prigozhin's dramatic death in a plane crash on August 23, 2023, approval ratings remained fairly steady, although we do observe a rise in "don't know" responses, suggesting growing uncertainty.

What about attitudes toward Sergei Shoigu, former minister of defense, who was a major target of public criticisms by Prigozhin? Over spring-summer '23, Shoigu's approval ratings also decreased steadily and then recovered somewhat over the course of the following year.

Shoigu was replaced as minister of defense in mid-May 2024. In the coming weeks, we will analyze more recent data to see if his ratings have changed in response to this move (and the controversy regarding corruption in the MOD).

Note that these figures show averages that have not been weighted by sociodemographic characteristics, and should be taken as evidence of general trends in public opinion and not precise estimates.

See the original Tweet here.