Over the week from July 24 to 29, this indicator rose from 53 to 57 percent, while only 37 percent of respondents described their environment as calm, compared to 40 percent the week before.
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Only more nervous after mobilization was announced
A higher level of anxiety (70 percent) was recorded only in the fall of 2022 – after mobilization was announced.
The indicator has been steadily rising since April. At the end of March, calm moods still prevailed over anxious ones (51 percent versus 40 percent).
In a separate survey about the most important events of the week, 43 percent of Russians mentioned the war against Ukraine. Of these, 18 percent spoke about shelling of Russian territories, mostly about “drones in Podolsk, Domodedovo, Chekhov” and “an explosion at the Tyumen oil refinery.” 10 percent singled out strikes by the Ukrainian armed forces on “Wildberries” warehouses. Another 8 percent of Russians cited fuel shortages and price increases among worrying topics. However, FOM does not directly link these responses to the growing anxiety.
Only bad news for Russians
Political scientist Ekaterina Schulman noted that the indicators approached the values of the fall of 2022, despite the traditionally calm summer holiday season, reports “The Moscow Times.”
“We are heading for a record,” she wrote.
Political scientist Ilya Grashchenkov explained the growing anxiety by the fact that “the information agenda almost entirely consists of negative events.”
Over the past week, the Russian authorities spoke out at least four times about rumors of a new mobilization being prepared. On July 24, Defense Committee member Andrey Kolesnik said that there was “no talk” of a new mass forced conscription, as the ranks of contract soldiers are already being supplemented.
On July 27, a similar statement was made by the head of the same committee, Andrey Kartapolov, and the next day by his colleague, retired Lieutenant General Viktor Sobolyev.
The topic of mobilization was also touched upon by Deputy Chairman of the Security Council Dmitry Medvedev. He called such reports a “blizzard” (Russian: purga), noting that Russia’s “enemies” allegedly try to destabilize the situation and provoke the growth of negative moods in the country. At the same time, D. Medvedev admitted that the pace of recruiting contract soldiers for the war is slowing down.
According to sources from the “Viorstka” channel, the Russian authorities may introduce martial law and announce mobilization after the State Duma elections in September.
European officials have also not ruled out mobilization in Russia, citing large losses of Vladimir Putin’s army on the front, which by July reached 1.4 million people (dead and wounded).
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