Page 15 - RusRPTJul21

sentiments and Russian nationalism as the US lead the west in imposing sanctions on Russia.
In recent years the feelings towards the US, while remaining negative, were improving, but most recently they have turned negative again with those that believe the US is an “unfriendly country” rising by 6pp to 54% in May with another 31% seeing it as a friend, according to a Levada survey released on June 15. That is up from 42% that saw the US as unfriendly and 40% that saw it as a friend in March.
Still, the current attitude is well down from the peak 81% that saw the US as unfriendly in January 2015, as the first sanctions were imposed. It is also very different from the 80% that thought the US was a friend in November 1991 and only 6% that saw the US as an unfriendly country in November 1991 shortly after the collapse of the USSR.
The attitude of Russians towards the European Union is also continuing to deteriorate. In January 2021, 45% of respondents had a positive attitude towards the EU against 37% with a negative attitude. In March, these indicators were 38% and 45%, respectively. The last time that these levels of approval were seen was in late 2018 and early 2019, according to Levada.
Amongst the other countries Russians believe are unfriendly, Ukraine takes second place where 40% of Russians see it as an unfriendly country, up 5pp since last year.
In third place is Great Britain, followed by the Baltic states, Poland, Germany, Georgia and the Czech Republic, which are all in the top ten.
From its friends, Belarus continues to rank as number one; 58% of respondents see Belarus as a friendly country. This attitude has been strengthening since 2013 and has stabilized at 58-62% over the past three years, says Levada.
The second amongst Russia’s perceived friends is China (38%), which has retained the same level that only fluctuated within the statistical margin of error over the past few years.
In third place as a friend is Kazakhstan (34%) which has seen a slight decrease since 2019.
The top ten for friends also includes Armenia, India, Azerbaijan, Kyrgyzstan, Syria, Germany (the only European country in the TOP10) and Cuba.
In general, 83% of Russians are sure that Russia has enemies, 13% believe that it does not. Compared to 2020, the changes are insignificant.
15 RUSSIA Country Report July 2021 www.intellinews.com