Putin's draconian move against anti-war protest

To pour cold water on these protests, Putin last month signed major legislation to prevent anti-war protests which calls for up to 15 years of imprisonment for those who voice opinions contrary to the Kremlin’s narrative. indicates strong public support for the Kremlin’s decision to invade Ukraine. This is likely an accurate read on Russian public sentiment. According to a poll released by the Moscow-based Levada Center on March 30, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s approval rating rose from 71% prior to the war in February to 83% in March. These numbers mirror the poll’s findings that an increase in support for the Government grew by 55% to 71%, while voting intentions for Putin’s “United Russia” Party increased from 44% to 55% over the same period. Historian and researcher Andrew Fink, PhD, remarked that the Russian public’s support for the war is quite high, pointing to “a typical ‘rally-round-the-flag’ response that most people have at the start of a war, almost any war.” However, Fink cautioned that similar war-fever struck Russia at the start of World War I and the Russo-Japanese War and questioned: “What happens when the coffins start coming home, and when Russia has more and more battlefield humiliations?” https://www.kyivpost.com/eastern-europe/what-russians-actually-think-about-ukraine-and-putin.html