Half of Russians favor return of death penalty
Nearly half of all Russians are in favor of reinstating the death penalty, according to a survey published by the All-Russian Public Opinion Research Center (VCIOM) on Wednesday.
The death penalty was initially suspended in Russia in 1996 when the country sought to join the Council of Europe. In 1999, Russia's Constitutional Court placed a moratorium on the measure and extended it indefinitely in 2009. Legally, however, the practice has never been fully abolished. After Moscow withdrew from the Council of Europe in 2022, debates around lifting the moratorium were reignited among Russian politicians, lawmakers, and public figures.
In its latest study, which surveyed some 1,600 Russians over the age of 18 earlier this month, VCIOM found that capital punishment was still a significant issue for most respondents (73%). It also reported that the number of those for whom the topic is 'extremely important' has grown from 28% in 2010 to 36% in 2025.
According to the poll, nearly half of respondents (49%) said they were in favor of reinstating the death penalty while only around a quarter (26%) said it would be better to maintain a moratorium. Just 15% of respondents argued that capital punishment should be completely abolished, while 10% said they were unsure.
Pollsters noted that the older the respondents were, the more likely they were to support reinstating the death penalty. Among those born between 1948 and 1967, 62% argued in favor of lifting the moratorium.
Retaining the moratorium saw the most support among those born between 1982 and 2000, while the complete abolishment of the measure was mostly backed by those born after 2001.
The topic of the death penalty remains a point of contention in Russian society, although President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly stated that it would not be reintroduced. In December, he stressed that despite public calls to return the measure, Moscow is not seeking to bring back capital punishment and is instead looking to further liberalize the national penal code in order to reduce the number of convicts.
A number of Russian lawmakers have also pointed out that returning the death penalty would be legally impossible as the ban was issued by the Constitutional Court, whose decisions cannot be overturned by either chamber of Russia's parliament.
The head of Russia's Constitutional Court, Valery Zorkin, has explained that under the Russian Constitution, everyone has the right to life and therefore is guaranteed 'the right not to be sentenced to death.' He has suggested that the return of the measure would require the adoption of a new constitution.
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