Russia's happiness index fell nine points in July to 50, its lowest level since 2011 and the sharpest one-month drop the state pollster has recorded during the war.

The figure comes from the Russian Public Opinion Research Center, or VTsIOM, and is below the level registered during the mobilisation of autumn 2022. Some 8% of respondents said they felt "absolutely unhappy", matching the all-time low across 36 years of the pollster's studies - last touched in September 2024, after Ukrainian forces crossed into the Kursk region.

The drivers are daily and material rather than abstract: drone strikes on Russian cities, a petrol shortage that has brought rationing back to Moscow and St Petersburg, and no visible prospect of the war ending soon.

A state-owned pollster publishing a record-low happiness reading is itself the story. VTsIOM's numbers are produced for an administration that has spent four years insisting the war is not affecting ordinary life, and the survey it chose to release documents the opposite - which suggests the fuel crisis has passed the point where it can usefully be denied.

In July, 66% of Russians said they expected "hard times" ahead for the country. Another spike in inflation on the back of the fuel crisis has pushed households to save less and spend more on day-to-day essentials, according to the survey, UAWire reported on August 22, citing The Moscow Times.

Interest in leaving has risen with it. Searches for information on obtaining foreign passports, visa-free destinations and border-crossing requirements have reached their highest level since the invasion began.