How Do Russians Support the War?

• In Event: Russians and the War

Abstract

Since the beginning of Russia's military actions in Ukraine, one of the central issues debated by scholars and the general public has been its support by Russian citizens. While quantitative polls attempt to describe the structure and dynamics of Russians' support for military action, they do not reveal how citizens perceive the conflict, or what they "approve" or "disapprove" of. Qualitative research is especially needed to understand how apolitical Russian citizens perceive the war, as they lack concise "positions" on it and instead have fears, hopes, and disappointments. Such research was conducted by Public Sociology Laboratory and coordinated by the author of this presentation. In the Spring of 2022, 79 semi-structured sociological interviews with "non-opponents" of the war were conducted, and in the Fall of 2022, 88 semi-structured interviews with the same type of informants were conducted as well (40 of them were follow-up interviews with the Spring informants). Based on the analysis of this data set, I will look at how the logic of war support evolves over time. Do the Russians' opinions on the war change, and if so, how? What are the new justifications for war that emerge in Russian society over time, and why? Finally, how might the logic of war support evolve in the future?

Author

• Svetlana Erpyleva, U of Bremen (Germany)