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bne July 2021 New Europe in Numbers I 75
Russians consider the US to be the number one “unfriendly country”
bne IntelliNews
Russians consider the United States
to be the number one “unfriendly country” and that feeling is on the rise again, according to the latest poll by the independent pollster the Levada Center.
Separately, Russian President Vladimir Putin maintains a much lower level
of global trust than his Western counterparts, according to a Pew Research Center poll published June 14.
Russians had a generally positive view of the US for most of the years following the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, hoping that America would come to Russia’s aid after the economic collapse following the fall of communism.
That changed dramatically following the annexation of the Crimea in 2014 when Russian President Vladimir Putin played on the “enemy at the gate” sentiments and Russian nationalism as the US led 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,
Attitude towards the USA
Following the fall of the Soviet Union 80%
of Russians saw the US as a friendly country, but following the annexation of Crimea and the imposition of sanctions today 54% see
it as an unfriendly country
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.
Good Bad
In third place is the UK, 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 stabilised 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.
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