A leading Russian pollster affiliated with a quasi-state agency says Russian society is increasingly looking to the Kremlin not for stability, but for change.
Valery Fyodorov, who is the head of the VTsIOM polling agency, made the comments August 8 in a speech to a regional youth forum run by the government agency in charge of youth affairs, Rosmolodyozh.
He said opinion polling is showing that Russians are increasingly insecure about the future and that “revolutionary attitudes” tend to appear after the end of a crisis.
“In this situation, people stop being patient and they start making demands, and it’s in this situation that demands for change emerge,” Fyodorov said, according to a transcript of his remarks published by Rosmolodyozh.
“The fight under way is already not between stability and change, but for what type of change,” he said. “The struggle for what kind of future [will be] is already becoming one of the most important trends” in Russia.
Though its government funding has often led to appearances of skewed results, VTsiom is one of Russia’s largest public opinion research firms.
Fyodorov’s comments come as the country gears up for next March’s presidential election, in which Vladimir Putin is widely expected to run, and win.
