61% of Russians believe that President Vladimir Putin bears full responsibility for the problems faced by the country and which have arisen during his leadership, according to the latest poll conducted by the independent Levada-Centr research center.

The polling company carries out a similar survey once a year, with the latest one demonstrating Russians are increasingly skeptical of President Putin, holding him completely responsible for the country’s problems (since 2012).
The percentage of Russians who think that Putin is not responsible for the current difficulties has also been falling in recent years. From 23% in 2016, it dropped to 16% this year.
In addition, 10% of Russians believe that “unreliable and corrupt officials” are responsible for all the problems, while 6% attribute the problems to “objective difficulties” – the global crisis, the situation in the country in the 1990s and other factors, according to Levada-Centr.

The Russian President’s popularity has also fallen, as 55% of the respondents said they would vote for him if elections were held next Sunday, compared 66% who said would vote for him last year.