Page 47 - RusRPTSept22

suitable for us, while 26% call them destructive. This thinking has markedly strengthened since 2000, when 35% expressed negative views - 25% believing that the western guidelines are not suitable for us, and 10% saw them as destructive," the pollster said.
Young people (18-34 years of age) see the West in a positive light and believe that Russia needs it or can take a lot of good from it (55% and 50% accordingly). Opposite views dominate among the 35+ age group. Respondents aged 60 and over consider the orientation towards the West as harmful and erroneous (70%). At the same time, one in two polled Russians (55%) believed that the West is not to blame, that Russians themselves are forgetting their own culture. One-third of those surveyed see a problem with the influence of Western culture (35%) gaining strength. Forty-four percent of those surveyed agreed with the opinion that Western culture has a negative influence on Russians’ taste for art.
With prices and unemployment on the rise, Meduza’s sources say Kremlin officials fear Russians are in for a rude awakening this fall. The Putin administration is bracing itself for an anticipated rise in popular discontent in Russia, as prices continue to go up and factories shut down, informed sources told Meduza. Kremlin officials and the political strategists on their payroll believe that Vladimir Putin’s supporters are losing interest in the war against Ukraine — which means they’re beginning to pay attention to other issues. And with the start of the school year fast approaching, the pressures of getting the kids ready for class could be the final straw.
Stalin remains popular in Russia as the man that transformed Russia’s economy from a bucolic agrarian society into an industrial superpower. In Ukraine support for Stalin has fallen off to next to nothing.
47 RUSSIA Country Report September 2022 www.intellinews.com