Two years of Special Military Operation: Dynamics of changes in the attitude of youth (within the context of media infl uence)

Despite the considerable attention paid to the attitude of young people towards special military operation (hereinafter referred to as SMO), the role of mass media in shaping the attitudes of this age group is not analyzed very often. Meanwhile, this is precisely what largely determines how young people perceive what is happening. In this regard, the aim of the study, the results of which are presented in this article, was to identify the dynamics of young people’s attitudes towards SMO in the context of their inherent media practices. Empirical basis for the analysis was the data from monthly measurements carried out from March 2022 to March 2025 by the Levada Center (recognized as a foreign agent in Russia), as well as three online questionnaires (n = 3796) and a series of focus group interviews with young people (n = 110) conducted in November 2022, 2023 and 2024 by employees of the Department of Political Science of Saratov State University. It turned out that most young people do not closely follow what is happening within the framework of SMO, in general they support Russia’s actions in this confl ict, but the level of this support is lower than that of representatives of older generations. The main reasons for this are the de-ideologization of education, breakdown of the system of patriotic education of the younger generation, as well as the inherent media consumption practices that make young people virtually inaccessible to the political narratives formed by the authorities. Specifi c recommendations are formulated on how to achieve a more conscious and loyal attitude of young people to the special operation.