<i>“Hope the Russians Love Their Children Too”</i>: Russian Public Support for the Use of Nuclear Weapons after the Invasion of Ukraine
Journal: Journal of Global Security Studies
Year: 2025

Abstract Following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, experts have expressed concerns that Moscow’s nuclear saber-rattling may have eroded the “nuclear taboo” and led to increased support for the use of nuclear weapons in Russian society. To investigate public attitudes toward nuclear use in Russia, we conducted a preregistered survey experiment on a representative sample of the Russian population. Our results show that despite significant shifts in the regional security environment, the K