Opinion trackers Levada-Center, a respected non-government research organisation showed Putin increased his approval rating from 69 percent in January 2022, to 71 percent in February, 2022. That is the highest Putin's approval rating has hit in Levada Center polling since May 2018, when he scored a 79 percent approval rating.
Why not.
Well, for one thing, Putin's approval rating has been consistently above 60%. Compare that to this country, where a president's approval rating is awesome if he or she makes 55%. Most U.S. presidents' approval rating hovers around 50% or less. That should tell you something about how information is disseminated in Russia. If you think the government is oppressive here, try Russia.