About quarter of Russians sure political repressions to hit country again – poll

Kremlin and St. Basil's file photo

(Interfax – October 31, 2012) Nearly a quarter of Russians has no doubt about the emergence of a new wave of political repressions in the country, Russian news agency Interfax reported on 30 October, quoting a poll conducted by the Public Opinion Foundation (FOM).

According to the survey carried out on 21 October among 1,500 people in 100 villages and towns of Russia, two-thirds of the respondents (62 per cent) admit the fact of repressions carried out in the USSR during Stalin’s rule. This figure dropped by 13 per cent over a year. As many as 16 per cent of the respondents think the opposite, and that is two times more than in 2011 (8 per cent). One in five (22 per cent) respondents could not decide their attitude.

The poll shows that nearly a half of the respondents (48 per cent) believe that there is no justification for the measures of the then authorities, one in third (30 per cent) said it is difficult to determine the acceptability of repressions for the Soviet history. Twelve per cent of the polled are ready to justify the actions of the Soviet authorities and 10 per cent do not recognize the fact of repressions at all, the report said.

Speaking about the future in Russia, only one in five respondents (20 per cent) stated with confidence that political repressions will not hit the country again. Over a quarter of the polled (28 per cent) talked about the little probability of the repetition of Stalin-style repressions in Russia, and 23 per cent make no question of the emergence of a new wave of repressions, 19 per cent could not formulate their opinion, the poll showed.

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