Russia’s republic of Chechnya has the highest trust ratings toward its leaders and President Vladimir Putin among all regions, Russian media reported Monday.
The Kremlin closely monitors Putin’s trust ratings, which dipped to historic lows then quickly bounced back after the Kremlin challenged state pollsters’ methodologies. Its domestic policy curator Sergei Kiriyenko earlier this year introduced key performance indicators (KPIs) to evaluate trust in Putin and Russia’s governors, as well as trust in elections.
Based on the Kremlin’s KPIs, residents of Chechnya have the highest levels of trust nationwide toward Putin, their region’s leader and elections, Vedomosti reported.
Citing two participants of an event where Kiriyenko declared the KPI results, Vedomosti singled out the North Caucasus republic alongside three other Russian regions that outperformed their indicators.
Two unnamed participants told RBC that Chechnya ranked in the top five alongside annexed Crimea in trust toward Putin. Kommersant’s sources placed Chechnya in the top five in terms of trust toward governors.
Ramzan Kadyrov, 43, has ruled Chechnya, which was devastated by two bloody separatist conflicts in the 1990s and early 2000s, since being appointed its leader in 2007. He has been accused of carving out a state within a state, enforcing strict Islamic rules for women and committing human rights abuses, including systemic torture and extrajudicial killings.
Kiriyenko instructed deputy governors who attended the Nov. 7-9 seminar outside Moscow to boost Putin’s trust ratings to 70%, which he enjoyed around the time of his re-election last year, according to Kommersant.
The results were based on surveys conducted by the state-run Foundation of Public Opinion (FOM) polling agency.
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