Concern about Western sanctions against Russia increased significantly in March: they worry almost half of the respondents. Two-thirds of respondents believe that sanctions directly affect broad segments of the population. About a third say that sanctions have already created problems for them personally and their families.
The perception of sanctions has undergone significant changes compared to December 2021: sanctions do not bother 23% of respondents at all (in December — 35%); not too much — 30% (in December — 31%); rather worried — 27% (in 2020 — 19%); very worried — 19% (in 2020 — 13%).
When summing up the positions “sanctions bother” and “do not bother” approximately an equal number of respondents: 46% and 53%, respectively (the level of November 2018).
The residents of Moscow are the most concerned about sanctions: 19% are very worried about sanctions, 41% are quite worried. Also, about 45% of residents of villages and cities with a population of 100 to 500 thousand and more than 500 thousand people are concerned about sanctions.
Sanctions worry more than half (52%) of respondents who “barely can afford for food”: 28% are very worried about sanctions, 24% are quite worried. 18% of those who have enough for clothes are very worried about sanctions, 27% are quite worried; among respondents who can afford durable goods, sanctions are very worried about 15%, rather worried about 28%.
The greatest concern (61%) about sanctions is observed among Russians who do not approve of the president’s activities: 34% of them are very worried about sanctions, 27% are quite worried. Those who approve have concerns at the level of 44%.
Compared to December 2021, the share of Russians who believe that sanctions directly affect broad segments of the population has increased by 21 percentage points to 67%. The number of respondents who believe that Western sanctions really affect only a narrow circle of people responsible for Russian policy towards Ukraine has decreased by 15 percentage points — to 26%.
The share of respondents who noted that the sanctions created problems for them and their families increased: very serious – for 7% (in 2020 – 3%), quite serious – for 22% (in 2020 – 7%), did not create serious problems – for 39% (in 2020 – 30%), did not create any problems – for 30% (in 2020 – 57%).
Thus, the share of respondents for whom sanctions created problems increased by 19 percentage points to 29%; the share of those for whom sanctions did not create problems decreased to 69%. The ratio reached the level of August 2015.
METHODOLOGY
The survey by the Levada Center was conducted March 24 – 30 2022, among a representative sample of all Russian urban and rural residents. The sample was comprised of 1632 people aged 18 or older in 137 municipalities of 50 regions of the Russian Federation. The survey was conducted as a personal interview in respondents’ homes. The answer distribution is presented as percentages of the total number of participants along with data from previous surveys. The data is weighted by gender, age and level of education.
The statistical error of these studies for a sample of 1600 people (with a probability of 0.95) does not exceed:
3.4% for indicators around 50%
2.9% for indicators around 25%/75%
2.0% for indicators around 10%/90%
1.5% for indicators around 5%/95%
The ANO Levada Center is included in the registry of non-commercial organizations acting as foreign agents.