MOSCOW—Russian President Vladimir Putin's approval rating has soared to a three-year high in the past month, a period that has included the winter Olympics in Sochi and the political crisis in Ukraine, Russian state pollster VTsIOM said Thursday.

The Russian president's approval rating has gained 9.7 percentage points to reach 71.6% since mid-February, well above the average of above 60% over the past several years, the pollster said. The data's margin of error doesn't exceed 3.4%.

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