From the MT:
“Nearly Half of Russians Support
Anti-Kremlin Protests in Far East – Poll”
Nearly half of Russians say they
approve of a recent wave of anti-Kremlin protests in the Far East, according to
an independent Levada Center poll published Tuesday. Mass protests broke out
this month after the arrest of the Khabarovsk region’s popular governor Sergei
Furgal and his replacement with a Putin-appointed lawmaker from an outside
region. People have taken to the streets of Khabarovsk near the Chinese border
for 18 days in a row, marking an unprecedented show of opposition to the
Kremlin in the region. Forty-five percent of Russians surveyed by Levada said
they view the protests positively, Levada’s poll said. Just 17% of respondents said they view the
protests negatively, while 26% said they view them with neutrality. When asked
whether they would take part in similar protests in their own region, 29% of
respondents said they would. Levada conducted the survey among 1,617 Russian
respondents on July 24-25. The results come weeks after Russian voters approved
a set of constitutional amendments that would allow President Vladimir Putin to
extend his rule until 2036 in a highly controversial plebiscite. Another Levada
poll conducted in June said Russians are increasingly expressing a willingness
to protest as public trust in Putin falls.
^ The protests, and others like
it, are a good sign that not everyone in Russia has drank the Kool-Aid, but the
protests and even the poll numbers do not mean that anything will change
anytime soon in Russia. ^
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