Putin losing grip on power: Popularity plummets as pension reforms spark Russia protests

Mr Putin’s approval ratings slumped when just 58 percent of Russians said they could trust him, a figure down 75 percent after the unpopular law was written in.

Survey results by the independent Levada Centre revealed he had similar ratings at the time of the annexation of Crimea in 2014 when at around that time 51 percent of Russian voters had faith in him.

After military intervention in Crimea saw the region’s annexation, his approval ratings skyrocketed to 82 percent.

Unease came as a pension reform that saw the pension age increase from 60 to 65 for men and woman sparked protests by both Mr Putin’s liberal opposition and the communist voters that support him.

As a result of unrest, he relaxed the law slightly for women, who are now expected to work until the age of 63 instead of 65 in a bid to win back voters.

The poll results also revealed Russians have more faith in their army than their president, after the military, which has had a huge modernisation drive after repeated tensions with China, scored a 66 percent approval rating.

Levada Centre sociologist Denis Volkov told Kommersant newspaper: “The pre-election mood revived and pushed up Vladimir Putin’s rating.

“After the election, however, the mobilisation of his supporters ended, and instead of the promised increase in wages, people got an increase in the pension age.”

The news comes after Russia was yesterday accused of behaving like a “pariah state” after allegations the Kremlin tried to hack the UK Government and the international body that headed the Salisbury Novichok probe.

Dutch authorities made the shock claim after they thwarted a Russian attack on the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) in The Hague, having received assistance from the help of UK intelligence.

Peter Wilson, UK ambassador in The Hague, said both the Foreign Office and Defence and Science Technology Laboratory at Porton Down were also targeted by a group of GRU military intelligence service hackers in Russia known as “Sandworm”.

Dutch authorities added GRU operatives sent “spear phishing” emails to the headquarters of the OPCW in an attempt to compromise its computers.

When that failed, a GRU “close access” team was sent from Russia to the Netherlands to try to penetrate their cyber defences from close quarters.

This resulted in Dutch security services seizing a hired car containing sophisticated hacking equipment the GRU men were using near the OPCW building on April 13.

Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson said: “These are the actions of a pariah state and we will continue working with allies to isolate them and make them understand they cannot conduct themselves in such a way.”

Russia has continued to deny any involvement in the attack and say both men were tourists who visited Salisbury Cathedral.