Russian public support for the war in Ukraine is “falling significantly”, according to British intelligence.
In its latest update on Sunday, the Ministry of Defence said an independent Russian media outlet has claimed access to data collected by Russia’s Federal Protective Service for internal use.
“Recent polling suggests that Russian public support for the ‘special military operation’ is falling significantly,” the MoD said.
“The data indicated 55% of Russians favour peace talks with Ukraine, with only 25% claiming to support continuing the conflict.
“These results are consistent with a separate October 2022 survey where 57% of respondents reported being in favour of talks.
“In April 2022, around 80% of Russians claimed to support the operation.”
The MoD added: “Despite the Russian authorities’ efforts to enforce pervasive control of the information environment, the conflict has become increasingly tangible for many Russians since the September 2022 ‘partial mobilisation’.
“With Russia unlikely to achieve major battlefield successes in the next several months, maintaining even tacit approval of the war amongst the population is likely to be increasingly difficult for the Kremlin.
Last week foreign secretary James Cleverly warned Vladimir Putin could use any peace talks as an opportunity to rebuild Russia’s battered forces for a fresh onslaught.
Cleverly said Western powers needed to be “very, very careful” if the Russian leader sought to initiate negotiations purporting to seek an end to the conflict.
In an interview with The Daily Telegraph, he said there was a risk “a ceasefire is actually just used by Putin to train up more troops and to produce more ammunition and to refit his damaged armed forces and to rearm his armed forces”.
His warning came after US President Joe Biden said he would be prepared to talk to Mr Putin if he was genuinely looking to end the war – something that has not happened so far.