Russia's support for Putin has seemingly soared amid the invasion of Ukraine as a poll revealed the number of Russians who trust President Vladimir Putin increased from 60 per cent to 71 per cent in less than a fortnight.

Eighteen per cent said they did not trust Putin, down from 29 per cent on February 20, while 11 per cent 'found it difficult' to answer the question, according to a poll conducted by the Public Opinion Foundation (FOM).

FOM is a Russian state-owned sociological and market research company.

It comes as the widow of Putin's political mentor blasted the propaganda being pushed on Russian state television, describing the information about the war in Ukraine as 'shameless lies'.

Lyudmila Narusova, 69, was married to politician and professor Anatoly Sobchak, the former mayor of St Petersburg who made Putin - his former law student - his deputy when the now president left the KGB.

In a recent interview with TV Rain, which has since been blocked, Narusova hit out at the Moscow media crackdown which has blocked key independent news outlets and accused military leaders of lying about the scale of their losses in Ukraine.  

'Why are we supposed to trust only state channels which - we all know - shamelessly lie?', Narusova asked. 

And though FOM's poll suggests the Russian President is enjoying renewed support amid the occupation of his neighbour, Russian cities have in recent days seen huge anti-war protests as citizens piled into the streets to demonstrate despite facing arrest and brutal treatment.