Every month, we conduct a large-scale survey across Russia, using the results to understand the true sentiments of people across the country. One of the recurring questions each month is: “How should Russia spend additional budget revenues?”

This careful phrasing is deliberate—it helps us gauge people’s attitudes toward the war, as a more direct question could intimidate respondents. Here’s what we’ve observed recently:

Despite relentless propaganda and the flourishing militarism, only one in seven Russians (14%) believes that more funding should go toward the war. Twice as many—29%—support increased investment in healthcare.

In October, we tried an interesting experiment. We conducted the survey as usual across the country, but for half of the responses, we focused only on three regions: Kursk, Belgorod, and Bryansk. In these regions, support for increased military spending was twice as high as the national average—30%. Why is that?

Another question from the survey offers some insight why it is so. Take a look at this chart:

Half of the residents in Kursk, Belgorod, and Bryansk report not feeling safe. Essentially, they’re saying: the government can’t protect us. They are facing the realities of the war directly and clearly don’t share the Kremlin’s narrative that “everything is going according to plan.”

These surveys are crucial for our work, which is why we conduct them every month. They are the only way to truly understand the opinions of our citizens, their views on important issues, the topics and concerns that affect them, and their real feelings about current events.

You can support FBK’s Polls & Surveys team and all of our work by making a donation. Thank you for your help!