19 August 2026
The protracted war, the worsening economic situation, and daily drone strikes burning oil refineries and warehouses from Moscow to the Urals have shattered Russians’ faith in a bright future.
In July 2026, 66% of citizens believed that “difficult times” lay ahead for Russia, according to a poll by the state-run VTsIOM polling station. Since the beginning of the year, those expecting future difficulties for the country have increased by a third (+16 percentage points).
As a result, the level of pessimism and fear about the future in society has reached one of the highest levels in the country’s modern history. According to VTsIOM data ( .xls ), roughly the same percentage (66-67%) expected “difficult times” in 1991, a few months before the collapse of the USSR, and 1992, when the Union collapsed and people faced mass impoverishment and hyperinflation at 2500%.
Even in the mid-1990s, despite the economic crisis, people were less fearful of the future than they are now: back then, between 46% and 60% spoke of upcoming “hard times” in different years. Only once before has the proportion of pessimists among Russians been higher—72% in April 2020, when the COVID pandemic began, the first lockdowns hit the economy, and a vaccine had not yet been developed.
Ukraine’s long-range airstrikes, which triggered a fuel crisis in Russia and burned more than 20 Wildberries warehouses, are clearly having an impact on the psyche of Russians, especially in large cities, notes John Lowe, a senior research fellow at the NEST Centre.
More and more people are questioning the purpose of this war, Lowe emphasizes: “As the number of attacks has increased over the past nine to twelve months, many have realized that this is a long war, with no immediate end.”
The paradox of the situation is that Vladimir Putin came to power a quarter of a century ago on promises of security, a peaceful life free of explosions and assassinations, but it is precisely this security that Putin has completely destroyed, notes political scientist Abbas Gallyamov.
“In today’s Russia, no one can feel safe anymore—not a general heading to a restaurant to celebrate his anniversary; not a vacationer finally making it to the beach in Gelendzhik; not a resident of the Moscow region sleeping peacefully in his bed during a nighttime drone attack; not a Wildberries warehouse worker,” Gallyamov explains.
I wouldn’t have much confidence either if I saw super huge smoke columns reaching the stratosphere every other day, a 12-hour wait for gas … if I were even to find a gas station with fuel … money that loses value daily, and to see silicon sluts and botox bitches crying across social media en masse over the bad this and terrible that.
Are you kidding me? Russians’ “Faith” in their country? What country? The land of Satan? Patriarch Kirill’s domain. The so-called country that is led by an evil creation that makes Adolf Hitler look like a grammar school kid? Makes my heart bleed to know that the good Russian people’s children will be suffering for decades after what “Russia” has tried to do with the attacking of a neighbor country. Massacring babies, children, mothers and everyone else they can! Russian SCUM. The only salvation the so called “Good” Russian people have for any future in this world is to have the bastards get some gonads, rise up and Kill the EVIL Fu*king bastards in the so-called Russian Federation. That is a House of Evil. And the Satanic Putin that runs it! Period!