REUTERS, Moscow

Russian President Vladimir Putin’s approval rating has fallen for a seventh week in a row to 65.6 percent, its lowest level since the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, according to state pollster VTsIOM.

Russia’s paramount leader, who was appointed acting president by Boris Yeltsin just eight years after the fall of the Soviet Union, has ruled the country since 1999 either as president or prime minister.

A former KGB lieutenant colonel who watched the Soviet Union collapse while based in East Germany, Putin will overtake Josef Stalin and become Russia’s longest-serving ruler since Empress Catherine the Great if he completes his current six-year term.

But his ratings, though still high by Western standards, have taken a hit in recent weeks. Putin’s approval rating is down from 73.3% in March, while trust in him has slipped over the same period to 71% from above 77%, according to VTsIOM.