Bulgaria: Putin has 62% disapproval rating, 58% believe Kremlin responsible for Navalny’s death
Bulgarian society is dominated by the opinion that the Kremlin regime is responsible for the death of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, the Alpha Research agency said, reporting the results of an opinion poll.
Regardless of the attempts to keep the specific cause of Navalny’s death in the dark and thus blur the responsibility, for 58 per cent of Bulgarians of legal age, the actions of the rulers in Russia led to the physical removal of Navalny.
Twenty per cent have the opposite opinion, and a further 22 per cent find it difficult to judge.
Expectations for the fairness of the upcoming presidential elections in Russia are, logically, overwhelmingly pessimistic, Alpha Research said.
Eliminating the real opposition, either physically or administratively (by refusing registrations to participate) leads to the conviction among 55 per cent of Bulgarians that the presidential elections will not be free and fair. Optimism is expressed by only 18 per cent, and for 27 per cent the situation remains unclear.
The agency said that in terms of foreign policy, the war in Ukraine continues to excite Bulgarians to a significant extent, and nearly two-thirds of those polled said that they had discussed it with their relatives in the past few weeks.
Russia’s aggression is not only a topic of conversation, but also a reason for serious concerns among the majority of Bulgarians (58 per cent) about Russia’s attempts to weaken the EU and Nato, of which Bulgaria is a member.
Against this background, Vladimir Putin continues to be viewed negatively.
Attitudes towards him radically changed after the attack on Ukraine, and cases such as the death of Navalny have reinforced them. To date, Bulgarians’ disapproval of him has reached 62 per cent against 20 per cent approval, Alpha Research said.
The poll was done from March 1-7 2024 by Alpha Research, is published on the agency’s website and was carried out using the agency’s own funds. The survey was done among 1000 adult citizens from all over the country. A stratified two-stage sample was used with a quota according to the main socio-demographic characteristics. The information was collected through a direct standardised interview with tablets at the homes of the respondents.
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