The attitude towards Alexei Navalny (listed as a terrorist and extremist by Rosfinmonitoring) has not changed significantly over the past year: half of the respondents disapproved of the politician’s activities, and one in ten respondents approved. Respondents most often say that Navalny has not played a special role in Russia’s history. One in two believes that the politician’s imprisonment was due to the fact that he violated the law and had to be punished, while one in five believes that the government was settling scores with its opponent in this way. The majority of respondents are neutral towards people who come out to honor Navalny’s memory.
The attitude towards Alexei Navalny’s activities has not changed significantly over the past year: half of the respondents disapproved of his activities, one in ten approved, and 27% of respondents did not know about him or his activities. The peak of negative attitudes towards the politician occurred in July 2021, but after that it gradually decreased, while the maximum approval rates for his activities were recorded in September 2020, after which they also decreased.
Men (54%), respondents aged 40 and older (52%), respondents with higher education (54%), more affluent respondents (54% among those who can afford durable goods), residents of Moscow (64%), those who believe that things in the country are going in the right direction (56%), and those who approve of Putin’s performance as president (52%) are more likely to say that they disapprove of Navalny’s activities.
Respondents in the 35-39 age group (16%), those who believe that things in the country are going the wrong way (32%), and those who disapprove of V. Putin (42%) are more likely to say that they approved of Navalny’s activities, as well as those who trust YouTube channels as a source of information (30%).
Women (31%), respondents with secondary education and below (32%), less well-off respondents (37% among those who barely have enough for food), residents of cities with a population of up to 100,000 (33%), those who approve of V.Putin as president (28%) stated they did not know anything about Navalny or his activities, as well as those who trust television as a source of information (28%).


1 in 2 respondents (51%) shares the opinion that Alexei Navalny’s imprisonment was due to the fact that he violated the law and had to be punished. One in five believes that the government was settling scores with its political opponent in this way, this share decreased by 11 percentage points in 2 years.
The share of those who believe that Navalny was imprisoned because he broke the law and should have been held accountable is higher among older respondents (57% of those aged 55 and older), Moscow residents (62%), those who believe that things in the country are going in the right direction (60%), those who approve of V. Putin’s activities as president (55%), those who trust television as a source of information (59%), and those who disapprove of Navalny’s activities (76%).
The share of those who share the opinion that Navalny’s imprisonment is a settling of scores with a political opponent is higher among respondents aged 25-39 (25%), those who live in cities with a population of 500 thousand people or more (24%), those who believe that things in the country are going on the wrong track (54%), those who disapprove of V. Putin’s activities as president (65%), those who trust YouTube channels as a source of information (39%), those who approve of Navalny’s activities (76%). Putin’s activities as president (65%), those who trust YouTube channels as a source of information (39%), those who approve of Navalny’s activities (76%).


Since last year, the opinion about Alexei Navalny’s role in history has not changed: 11% of respondents believe that he played a rather positive role, one in five – a negative one, half of respondents – no special role.
The opinion that Navalny has played a rather positive role in the country’s history is more widespread among respondents aged 25-39 (16%), those who think that things in the country are going on the wrong track (28%), those who do not approve of V. Putin’s activity as president (35%), those who trust YouTube channels as a source of information (33%), those who approve of his activity (68%).
The opinion that Navalny has not played a special role in the history of Russia is more widespread among young people under 24 (54%), Moscow residents (65%), those who believe that things in the country are going in the right direction (50%), those who approve of V. Putin’s activity as president (48%), those who trust social networks and online publications as sources of information (56% each), those who disapprove of his policies (55%).
The opinion that Navalny has played a rather negative role in the history of Russia is more widespread among older respondents (27% among those aged 55 and older), those who believe that things in the country are going in the right direction (24%), those who approve of V. Putin’s activities as president (22%), those who trust television as a source of information (27%), and those who disapprove of his activities (40%).


Since February 2024, the attitude towards those who took to the streets on the anniversary of Alexei Navalny’s death to honor his memory and lay flowers at the monuments to victims of political repression has deteriorated somewhat – up to 15% (a decrease of 4 percentage points). 19% of respondents have a negative attitude towards such people. However, the majority of respondents (58%) are neutral and indifferent.
Respondents with less money (21% among those who barely have enough to eat) and residents of cities with a population of 500 thousand people or more (19%), as well as those who think that things in the country are going in the wrong direction (35%), those who do not approve of V. Putin’s activities as president (42%), those who trust YouTube channels as a source of information (34%), and those who approve of Navalny’s activities (66%) are more likely to have a positive attitude to people who came out to honor Navalny’s memory and lay flowers at monuments to victims of political repression.
Rather neutral, indifferent attitude to the people who came out to honor Navalny’s memory and lay flowers at the monuments to the victims of political repression, is shared more often by young people under 24 years old (67%), residents of Moscow (63%), those who believe that things in the country are going in the right direction (60%), those who approve of V. Putin’s activity as president (59%), those who disapprove of Navalny’s activity (60%).
More likely to have a negative attitude toward people who came out to honor Navalny and lay flowers at the monuments to the victims of political repressions are older respondents (27% of those aged 55 and older), those who believe that things in the country are going in the right direction (23%), those who approve of V. Putin’s activities as president (21%), those who trust television as a source of information (24%), and those who disapprove of Navalny’s activities (34%).


METHODOLOGY
The survey by the Levada Center was conducted February 20 – 26 2025, among a representative sample of all Russian urban and rural residents. The sample consisted of 1615 people aged 18 or older in 137 municipalities of 50 regions of the Russian Federation. The survey was conducted as a personal interview in respondents’ homes. The distribution of responses is given as a percentage of the total number. The data set is weighted by gender, age, level of education for each type of settlement (large cities, medium cities, small towns, villages) within each Federal district independently, in accordance with Rosstat data.
The statistical error of these studies for a sample of 1600 people (with a probability of 0.95) does not exceed:
3.4% for indicators around 50%
2.9% for indicators around 25%/75%
2.0% for indicators around 10%/90%
1.5% for indicators around 5%/95%
Learn more about the methodology