Putin ties himself to ruling party as war fatigue bites

{"text":[[{"start":6.8,"text":"With his rare admission that Ukraine’s drone campaign has created “problems” for Russia, Vladimir Putin has sought to appear responsive to public concern about the war."}],[{"start":17.15,"text":"But that has done little to obscure the Russian president’s all-consuming focus on the invasion — and his determination to end it only on maximalist terms unacceptable to Kyiv."}],[{"start":27.2,"text":"Putin’s determination to press on despite mounting public discontent has exposed a dilemma before September’s parliamentary elections in Russia: keep insulating himself from the war’s fallout or confront it in an attempt to shore up the ruling party."}],[{"start":41.7,"text":"Russians have tended to direct their anger at United Russia, the Kremlin’s main party, rather than at Putin himself, who is not a member. The party’s approval ratings are hovering in the mid-30s."}],[{"start":53.1,"text":"This year, however, the Kremlin has taken the unusual step of tying Putin more closely to the party. At its congress on Sunday, United Russia put up posters declaring “Being for Putin is the basic minimum” and calling itself “The party of the president” for the first time since 2007."}],[{"start":null,"text":"

"}],[{"start":71.35,"text":"But fuel rationing and widespread internet blackouts have weighed on morale. Putin’s insistence that his forces will win the war is starting to grate as Russians run for cover from Ukrainian drones striking as far as Moscow and St Petersburg."}],[{"start":86.14999999999999,"text":"Trust in Putin has fallen to 69 per cent, the lowest level since the war began in 2022, according to a survey published on Friday by the Kremlin-friendly pollster FOM. The poll was conducted in the days immediately after Ukraine’s largest drone strike on Moscow."}],[{"start":103.44999999999999,"text":"The Russian president’s attempts to reassure the public sound like a “mantra — as if he’s trying to convince himself that everything is alright”, said Andrei Kolesnikov, a Moscow-based political analyst."}],[{"start":115.14999999999999,"text":"In rejecting a Ukrainian offer to halt the long-range strikes through a limited ceasefire, Putin showed “he’s refusing all options to solve the problem peacefully because he’s scared of losing the initiative”, said Kolesnikov. "}],[{"start":129,"text":"“That’s a bad sign — he won’t make any concessions, to his own detriment. That means he’s full of resentment and determination to fight by any means necessary.”"}],[{"start":140,"text":"State-run pollster Vtsiom has recorded slightly better results for Putin, but only after it changed its methodology to include door-to-door polling. "}],[{"start":149.15,"text":"Though Vtsiom explained the shift as an attempt to interview elderly people unable to navigate the internet blackouts, the surveys are unlikely to capture the growing unease in a society where even mild expressions of dissent can be punished with lengthy prison sentences."}],[{"start":166.3,"text":"That dynamic became clear when Gosulsugi, Russia’s state digital services website, asked users to submit “ideas to develop the country” last week. “Well, we need to . . . ah! I nearly fell for it! Nice try, comrade major,” Mintimer Nugmanov, who runs an advertising agency for small businesses, wrote in an Instagram post."}],[{"start":187.60000000000002,"text":"“The war fatigue has turned into anger that doesn’t get acted on, because you can’t do anything about it,” Kolesnikov said. “People are just getting by however they can, whether that’s through the internet restrictions or the fuel crisis.” "}],[{"start":null,"text":""}],[{"start":201.25000000000003,"text":"The drone attacks and internet blackouts raised speculation that the parliamentary elections would be postponed or cancelled, a prospect the Kremlin later ruled out. "}],[{"start":210.60000000000002,"text":"Though the Kremlin tightly controls voting in Russia and only admits a limited slate of candidates, the parliamentary vote is nonetheless an important barometer of discontent. "}],[{"start":220.65000000000003,"text":"As discontent began to grow over the internet blackouts in the spring, senior members of the ruling party began to distance themselves from unpopular measures they themselves had championed. "}],[{"start":232.80000000000004,"text":"Sergei Boyarsky, chair of the IT committee in Russia’s lower house of parliament, said last month that United Russia “does not support hurried and poorly thought-through suggestions to restrict or ban video games” — even though he himself had publicly backed a ban on popular game Roblox six months earlier."}],[{"start":251.30000000000004,"text":"Evgeny Poddubny, a top state television war reporter who is among United Russia’s top election candidates, said the party was against “brazen, stupid, and harmful censorship of art” — seemingly forgetting that the party’s lawmakers voted for a ban on “drug propaganda” in art in 2024."}],[{"start":270.90000000000003,"text":"Other lawmakers have walked back the party’s proposals to force Russians to get new passports when they turn 60, regulate artificial intelligence more heavily and even force photographers to get a state licence to take pictures of newborn babies, according to independent news site Agentstvo."}],[{"start":null,"text":""}],[{"start":287.35,"text":"Ivan Filippov, author of a forthcoming book about Russia’s pro-war blogging community, said the change in strategy regarding United Russia is emblematic of Putin’s increased isolation. "}],[{"start":299.05,"text":"“It’s 2026. The front is a dead-end meat grinder, the country is lining up for petrol, missiles and drones are hitting refineries and arms factories every day, and Crimea has almost become an island,” he recently wrote on Facebook."}],[{"start":312.6,"text":"“In those conditions, making Putin the face of the most unpopular party in the country as it drowns is an inexplicable decision that only someone who lives in a parallel reality could make,” Filippov added."}],[{"start":324.70000000000005,"text":"Mikhail Vinogradov, a Kremlin-connected political scientist who attended the United Russia conference, said the Kremlin was trying to keep public discontent at bay. "}],[{"start":334.6,"text":"“Problems are acknowledged, but not treated as critically significant ones . . . So they are betting on waiting out the growth in social unease and waiting for the status quo to return. If it does.”"}],[{"start":352.90000000000003,"text":""}]],"url":"https://audio.ftcn.net.cn/album/a_1782800819_7548.mp3"}