President Putin's approval rating is now at 89%, the highest since his first presidential term. However, the Levada Center said the growth in Putin's approval is not critical enough to declare a new historical maximum.

Don't tell the Americans, but President Vladimir Putin's popularity at home is soaring. A new survey from the Levada Center shows that a whopping 89% of Russians “in general approve of Vladimir Putin as president of Russia." Meanwhile, just 10% said they do not approve of the president, while one percent preferred not to say.

The Levada Center polled 1,600 people from 134 towns, cities and villages across Russia from June 19 to June 22 in its survey. Putin's approval rating is now at its highest point since the beginning of his first presidential term, RBC reports.

Previous polls in April and May of this year showed that Putin's approval ratings at 86%, with 13% disapproving. The Levada Center said the statistical error of its studies does not exceed 3.4%, suggesting that Putin's popularity is indeed growing as he stands up to intimidation from Western countries.

Karina Pipia, press officer at the Levada Center, told RBC that Putin's previous high point approval-wise came in October of last year, when 88% of respondents said they supported him. “Therefore, the one percent growth in his approval ratings is not critical enough to declare a new historical maximum,” Pipia said.

Alexei Grazhdankin, Deputy Director of the Levada Center, said there was a definite link between Putin's popularity and the current state of Russia's relations with the west. “The worse Russia's position is, the more popular Putin becomes,” Grazhdankin said, noting that most Russians clearly support the president in standing up to the aggressive policies of the West.

Grazhdankin added that an additional factor in Putin's growing approval rating is the effect of the Victory Day anniversary celebrations. He said the experience of positive emotions had the affect of making people more sympathetic to the current government.

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