Interfax: Over 70% of Russians back Russia’s air campaign against ISIL in Syria – poll

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MOSCOW. Oct 8 (Interfax) – Seventy-two percent of Russian citizens interviewed by Levada Center sociologists have expressed their positive attitude toward Russia’s air campaign against Islamic State (ISIL) targets in Syria.

Fourteen percent of respondents criticized these airstrikes and another 14% were unable to articulate their attitude to Russia’s air force operation in Syria.

The survey was conducted in 46 Russian regions on October 2-5 and involved 1,600 people.

Its results show that 31% of Russians approve of their country’s air campaign targeting ISIL positions in Syria, 14% of respondents are outraged by it, 25% of those polled neither approve nor disapprove of it, and another 22% said they do not know the situation well enough.

When commenting on the start of Russia’s airstrikes in Syria, 47% of respondents said that Russia should support Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s efforts to fight ISIL and Syrian opposition groups. Another 28% of those polled believe that Russia should not interfere in these military conflicts altogether.

At the same time, 8% of respondents suggest that “Russia ought to join the Western coalition fighting ISIL and the Assad regime”, 8% admitted their lack of knowledge regarding this matter, and 21% of those polled were undecided.

Forty-nine percent of respondents said they are confident that “the U.S. and Western countries, on one hand, and Russia and Syria’s current leadership, on the other, will be able to reach common ground on ways to settle the situation in Syria”, 30% of those polled do not think that such an option is possible, and 21% were unable to answer the question.

Thirty-nine percent of respondents believe it is quite probable that Russia’s military interference in the Syrian conflict could escalate into a ‘new Afghanistan’ for Russia, 7% of those polled expressed conviction that this would happen, 32% described such an option as unlikely, 6% ruled it out, and 13% were unable to answer the question.

 

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