As war in Ukraine enters a 5th year, will the ‘Putin consensus’ among Russians hold?

<https://theconversation.com/as-war-in-ukraine-enters-a-5th-year-will-the-putin-consensus-among-russians-hold-275666>

"Perceived wisdom has it that the longer a war goes on, the less enthusiastic a
public becomes for continuing the conflict. After all, it is ordinary citizens
who tend to bear the economic and human costs.

And yet, as the war following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in
February 2022 enters its fifth year, the attitude of the Russian public remains
difficult to gauge: Just over half of Russians, according to one recent poll,
expect the war to end in 2026; yet a majority say that should negotiations
fail, Moscow needs to “escalate” with greater use of force.

As observers of Russian society, we believe this ambiguity in Russian public
opinion gives President Vladimir Putin the cover to continue pushing hard for
his goals in Ukraine. Yet at the same time, a deeper dive into the Russian
public’s apparent support for the war suggests that it is more fragile than the
Russian president would like to believe."

Cheers,
       *** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net               Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/                 Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/            Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/               Manager, Serious Cybernetics