Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's spokesman said the drop in the premier's approval ratings was due to the "general emotional background" in the society before and after the elections.
"Indeed, the ratings have been volatile. In many respects, this is linked to the general emotional background in the pre-election and post-election period," Dmitry Peskov said. "However, when we leave emotions behind, it becomes evident that the real trend is generally positive at the moment."
"The true state of affairs in the economic sphere, social sphere and the government's measures to stabilize the economy in a period of international turbulence gives us grounds to hope that this sine wave will go upwards," he added.
According to Thursday's approval rating by state-run pollster VTsIOM the approval rating of the prime minister was 51%. Before the elections the average monthly rating stood at 60-61%.
