MOSCOW, Apr 26 Nearly half of Russians want Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev to quit, an opinion poll showed today, suggesting corruption allegations levelled against him by political opponents have taken a toll.
Opposition politician Alexei Navalny released a video last month accusing Medvedev of owning a sprawling portfolio of luxury homes and of amassing a fortune that outstripped his salary.
It has been watched more than 20 million times on YouTube and helped spark recent protests across Russia.
Medvedev, a close ally of President Vladimir Putin, has dismissed the allegations as politically motivated “nonsense”, suggesting they were designed to stir up trouble ahead of a presidential election next year which Putin is expected to contest.
Today, the Levada Center, a pollster which casts itself as independent, released the results of a survey showing that 52 per cent of Russians did not trust Medvedev, up from 42 per cent in March 2014 after Russia annexed Crimea.
(Reuters)
