Opinion | Poll shows Russians oppose Putin’s Ukraine war — as elections approach

Polling is a tricky business in an authoritarian state: No reliable surveys are possible when respondents are afraid to speak their mind for fear of personal consequences. In September 2024, a Muscovite by the name of Yuri Kokhovets was sentenced to five years in prison for giving the “wrong” answer in a street poll about the war in Ukraine. In such conditions, the results of any opinion polls are necessarily skewed toward the socially expected — and personally safer — responses.