George W Bush's approval ratings also spiked after the Iraq war, when our country was also flooded with propaganda and lies about the justification for that.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_image_of_George_W._Bush

https://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/20/us/20generals.html

You can't trust polling numbers out of Russia but there is historical context for these types of full scale invasions to bring up approval ratings.

> propaganda and lies about the justification for that

I keep hearing this, and yet, the NYT and the international Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons both confirmed that there were chemical weapons in Iraq:

https://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/24/world/middleeast/question...

https://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/23/world/middleeast/thousand...

https://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/16/world/cia-is-said-to-have...

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/12/03/world/middlee...

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/10/14/world/middlee...

Did the NYT issue a retraction when I wasn't looking?

The numbers I saw went from 61% to 71%. I'm not sure if there is any way to get accurate, honest polls out of Russia, but it wouldn't surprise me to find out that people support him now more than before, between the propaganda in the news and the impact the sanctions are having on them.

I buy that Putin has a good deal of support, even if I don't buy zdragnar's "all is lost" fatalist analysis.