A January poll by the independent Levada Center (6) recorded a deterioration in socio-economic assessments: the share of respondents who consider the economic situation bad rose by 7 percentage points from September 2025 to 22%, while the share of positive assessments fell by 9 points from May 2025 to 19%.

Key February topics in Russian social media include a sharp increase in housing-and-utilities (communal services) costs — which even the authorities were forced to acknowledge, calling it a “price adjustment” (7) — as well as a steep rise in cucumber prices as a symbol of broader cost-of-living increases.

“They had an opportunity to speak on the sidelines — work matters”. Kremlin propaganda consistently emphasizes the focus on economic issues and the purported efforts of the Kremlin and the Russian government to address them.