Ukraine’s surprise incursion into the Kursk region of Russia appears to be paying off politically, as Vladimir Putin plummets in the polls.
A new survey of Russians, taken just two weeks after the Kursk incursion, saw President Putin drop to a record 2024 low. Russia‘s Levada Center, an independent research organisation based in Moscow, carried out the poll from August 22 to 28, questioning 1,619 Russian adults.
It asked participants to “name a few politicians and public figures whom you trust the most”. Some 45 percent of respondents named the Russian president among the politicians they trust.
This figure is 3 percentage points lower than in July, and the lowest since October 2023, according to Russian investigative site Agentstvo.
Denis Volkov, director of the Levada Center, attributed the drop in Russian trust in Putin to the incursion, saying: “An open question generally always shows much greater volatility.”
This comes as Sweden’s foreign minister Tobias Billström said the incursion has more political than territorial value.
Mr Billstrom said that the incursion, more than three weeks in, has changed the “narrative” of the war
He said: “The fact that this was possible in the first place is so much more important than the actual territory on the ground. This is devastating for the Putin regime.
“It shows to the Russian population and it shows to the world that the Russian war machine is hollow. It hasn’t been able to protect its border.”
Independent Russian news outlet Moscow Times reported last week that the incursion had made the Russian leader “nervous,” citing anonymous Kremlin officials.
The incursion into Kursk is also believed to have secured major military victories on the battlefield.
Russia has reportedly moved its aircraft back from airfields near the Ukrainian border while glide bomb attacks inside Ukraine have dropped off.
An unnamed White House official told Politico that “90 percent of the planes that launch glide bombs” against Ukraine had been moved back inside Russia.
There were also reports that Moscow was transferring elite units from Ukraine to defend Kursk this week.
This week, Deputy CIA Director David Cohen said that the intelligence agency believes that President Putin is likely to mount a counteroffensive to try to retake territory in the Kursk region.
Mr Cohen said: “We can be certain that Putin will mount a counteroffensive to try to reclaim that territory.
“Our expectation is that that will be a difficult fight for the Russians.”