Putin, Shoigu, Lavrov Most Trusted Politicians in Russia

Russian President Vladimir Putin's credibility rating reached 62.1 percent as of late December, while 14 percent of respondents trust Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, and 13.8 percent trust Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, according to the poll.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Russian President Vladimir Putin, Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov are considered to be the most trusted Russian politicians by the citizens, a recent opinion poll revealed.

According to the survey by the the Russian Public Opinion Research Center (VTsIOM), Putin's credibility rating reached 62.1 percent as of late December, while 14 percent of respondents trust Shoigu, and 13.8 percent trust Lavrov.

Putin's public approval rating reached 86.8 percent, compared to 85.8 percent a week ago. The approval rating of the ruling United Russia party reached 48 percent, according to the poll.

The distrust rating is led by leader of the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia (LDPR) Vladimir Zhirinovsky (21.2 percent), Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev (11.6 percent) and Russian Communist Party leader Gennady Zyuganov (10.1 percent).

The all-Russian opinion poll was conducted by VTsIOM on December 24-25, 2016, in 130 cities around the country among 1,600 people aged 18 and older. The maximum margin of error is no higher than 3.5 percent.