Chart of the Month October 2025

Question: “Now I would like to present you with some statements about politics, the state, and society that are sometimes heard in public discussions. Please tell me how strongly you personally agree with each of these statements. You can rate your opinion on a scale from ’I completely disagree’ to ’I tend to disagree’, ’I tend to agree’ and ’I completely agree’: Russia alone is to blame for the war in Ukraine.” Among the 2,043 people who intend to vote, there are only 80 FDP and 86 Left Party voters in the sample. The greater statistical uncertainty in these two groups is marked with an *. Figures are in per cent. Missing values for 100 per cent: don’t know/no answer. Survey 1055 conducted on behalf of the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung.

On February 24, 2022, Russia invaded Ukraine in a war of aggression that violated international law. Therefore, Russia bears sole responsibility for the war in Ukraine and is consequently referred to as the “aggressor” in this context. Our chart of the month shows that this position is not shared by everyone, with regard to party supporters.

A majority (54 per cent) of AfD and BSW voters clearly do not believe that Russia is solely to blame for the war in Ukraine. Only a fraction of supporters of all other parties share this opinion. On the contrary, a majority of them (tend to) agree with the statement that Russia is solely to blame. Russia's war of aggression is thus dividing the electorate into two unequal camps.

Overall, a majority of people in Germany believe that Russia is solely to blame for the war in Ukraine (52 per cent; not mentioned in the illustration). A further 20 per cent tend to disagree or disagree completely with the statement. Complete rejection of Russia's sole responsibility in the “I disagree completely” category is greater in the east (30 per cent) than in the west (17 per cent).

Find out further analyses in the study ”Voting behaviour of people with a migration background”.