Three weeks into the war’s third year, the number of Russians who believe the conflict was a mistake has risen, according to a new poll cited by The Moscow Times, an independent Russian publication branded a “foreign agent” by Moscow.

According to a poll by pollsters Russian Field, in January 2024, 37 percent of Russians would “reverse the decision” to launch an invasion if given the chance.

The share of those who believe that the war should not have started reached an all-time high: in March 2022, 28% of respondents held this opinion. It fell to 26% in May 2022 and then rose steadily until last month.

Those who would not cancel the start of the “special military operation”, as Vladimir Putin called the invasion, make up 53% of those polled by “Russian Field”. Their share has increased by 4 percentage points since the fall of 2023, when it became clear that Ukraine’s much-publicized counteroffensive had failed.

However, compared to the beginning of the war, the number of citizens who support the war has decreased: in March 2022, they were 57%. “Men over 45 are significantly more likely to say they would not cancel the ‘military operation,’ while those under 45 say they would,” Russian Field writes, adding that pro-war Russians make up the majority of Vladimir Putin’s supporters .

Those who believe the start of the war was a mistake predominate among supporters of Boris Nadezhdin, the most popular of Putin’s rival candidates in the upcoming presidential election in March.

According to the poll, a majority of Russians expect whoever wins the Kremlin seat to end the war, with “stopping the war” and “making peace” top priorities for 26.4 percent of Russians.

“Women, the age group of 30-44 years, wealthy, highly educated segments of the population and those who are not going to vote in the presidential elections speak more often about the need to stop the “special operation”, – says Russian Pole.