Since Start of Expanded War in Ukraine, Russians More Inclined to See Themselves as ‘Masters of Their Own Fate,’ Moscow Institute of Sociology Says

Paul Goble
    Staunton, Nov. 17 – Since Vladimir Putin launched his expanded war in Ukraine in 2022, Russians are more inclined than before to view themselves as “masters of their own fate,” either because they feel that they personally are more in control of what happens to them or because they feel their country is in control of the situation.
    That is one of the findings of new research reported by the Moscow Institute of Sociology of the Russian Academy of Sciences which found that the share of those who felt that way jumped from 48 percent to 62 percent while those holding the opposite opinion fell from 52 percent to 38 percent (ng.ru/economics/2024-11-14/4_9135_sociologists.html).
    The sociologists rooted this shift in the rising standard of living among Russians and declines in the number of poor as people worked more and earned more, but the impact of the war on such attitudes is beyond question, although the balance between the two has tended to shift back as the war proceeds.
    At present, the share of Russians who feel themselves to be masters of their own fate fell to 57 percent in 2024 while the fraction which felt otherwise has risen to 43 percent, an indication that for many economic gains are becoming harder to come by and that the self-confidence they gained from the war is ebbing.