Russian President Vladimir Putin's public approval rating rose to 88 percent in October from 84 percent the previous month, according to the Levada Center.<br />The latest rating was one point below Putin's high of 89 percent in June, the independent Moscow-based polling company said in a website statement Wednesday.<br />State-run VTsIOM said Oct. 22 that the president's backing rose to a record 88.9 percent in its survey after Russia began bombing Syria.<br />Sixty-one percent of Levada's respondents said Russia was heading in the right direction, up from 55 percent in September.
