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The widely respected Levada polls have been in the spotlight recently after
the new pro-Kremlin editor at leading Russian language daily Vedomosti banned their use and has reportedly been Bowdlerising articles that are too critical of Putin or the government.
Vedomosti was set up as a joint venture between the Financial Times, the Wall Street Journal and Independent Media, the owner of the English-language Moscow Times. It quickly became a bastion of independent reporting and the market leader. It remains a media powerhouse, despite its recent troubles, and widely read.
Levada said the survey was conducted on April 24-27 and that 1,608 people had been polled across Russia.
Other results
The full impact of the coronavirus epidemic has yet to hit the Levada polls, which were last updated in March. However, most of the indicators were slipping slightly as the impact of the
oil price shock hit the country and unsettled respondents.
Notably, the approval of the government slipped by two percentage points and the public are now equally divided between support and disapproval at 48% for each, with 2% abstaining. The Duma itself remains deeply unpopular, with 54% disapproving against 42% approving of its work in March.
Another key group is the regional governors, which retained their high approval rating of 65% against 32% that disapprove, and 3% abstentions. It remains to be seen if this will fall
in April, however, as by passing the buck to the regional governors in the coronavirus fight Putin has created an opportunity for governors to further extend their lead over his popularity if they are seen to make a good job of it.
Finally, the number of respondents that see Russia as “going in the right direction” fell slightly in March to 48% from 53% a month earlier, while those who believe it is going in the wrong direction were up from 38% to 42%.
Belarus under international fire for crackdown on journalists
bne IntelliNews
Harlem Desir, the OSCE representative on freedom of the media, has expressed his concerns and denounced the detention and imprisonment of journalists, including freelancers, in authoritarian Belarus.
According to the OSCE representative's statement published on May 12, Belarusian courts sentenced four reporters to 10 days of administrative
arrest on charges of participating in "unauthorised events", while they were reportedly observing and covering public gatherings in support of the detained Sergei Tsikhanovski, the nation's popular blogger, who is critical of the Belarusian authorities.
The blogger, who has been touring Belarus over the past weeks and recording the local population amid the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak, was detained on May 6. He was pulled over by traffic police. The blogger livestreamed the police’s attempt to get him out of the vehicle, including the country's special task force.
"I am alarmed by the detention and imprisonment of journalists and freelance reporters [...] for their alleged participation in unauthorised events," Desir said. "Journalists must be able to report on events of public interest such as public protests. I am very much concerned by this decision, which [impinges] on media freedom. I call on the authorities to release all journalists and freelance reporters concerned."
Belarusian law enforcers have detained or arrested around 120 anti-government protestors, activists and journalists in different regions of the country.
Meanwhile, the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) has demanded the release of four journalists sent to jail just for doing their job.
"This new wave of attacks and imprisonment of freelance journalists in Belarus for doing their job is not only a shameless intimidation against all journalists, it leaves indeed great doubts about the judicial system in Belarus and this even more in times of COVID-19, when courtrooms are not open to the public," Renate Schroeder, EFJ director, said on May 12. "We also condemn the high fines of up to €500 for the freelance journalists."
Last week, the Belarusian authorities revoked the media accreditation of a news crew of the Russian Kremlin-controlled television Channel One and deported its correspondent from the country after his report about the snowballing coronavirus (COVID-19) crisis in the post-Soviet republic, which refuses to implement the recommendations of the World Health Organisation (WHO).
The accreditations of the channel's correspondent Oleksei Kruchinin and his cameraman were revoked one day after Channel One aired on May 6 his report alleging that April's Orthodox Christian Easter services and a state-organised nationwide subbotnik had led to a surge in new coronavirus cases in the country. Parliament has set the country's presidential election for August 9.
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