Putin Approval Rating Falls to Lowest Since 2000: Poll

Russian President Vladimir Putin’s approval rating fell this month to the lowest level since 2000, according to a poll by the independent Levada Center.

Sixty-two percent of Russians approve of Putin’s performance, the lowest since June 2000, according to the Jan. 18-21 poll of 1,596 people by the Moscow-based Levada Center. That’s down from 72 percent two years ago, showed the poll, which had a 3.4 percent margin of error.

Putin, who returned to the Kremlin in May after four years as prime minister, has faced the biggest protests against his rule since the 60-year-old former KGB agent replaced Boris Yeltsin as president in 2000. Thirty-seven percent of Russians disapprove of his rule, the most ever, according to the poll released today.

To contact the reporter on this story: Ilya Arkhipov in Moscow at iarkhipov@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Balazs Penz at bpenz@bloomberg.net