Interfax: Russians like Shoigu as defense minister more than Serdyukov – poll

MOSCOW. Nov 28 (Interfax) – Russians are increasingly positive about the situation in the Russian Army now that a year has passed since Sergei Shoigu’s appointment to the post of defense minister, a poll conducted by VTsIOM shows.

Shoigu was appointed defense minister on November 6, 2012 after President Vladimir Putin dismissed Anatoly Serdyukov from the post.

The respondents, however, had difficulty mentioning the new defense minister’s achievements.

The percentage of respondents who believe the situation in the Russian Army is good has increased from 13% in 2011 to 22% in November 2013, VTsIOM told Interfax, citing its poll.

Fewer Russians are now negative about the situation in the Russian Army (the percentage of such respondents has decreased from 29% in 2011 to 18% in November 2013), but the percentage of those who characterize the situation in the army as medium has increased from 44% in 2011 to 53% in November 2013.

Russians tend to give Shoigu better marks than his predecessor Serdyukov: the respondents now give Shoigu on average 3.86 points on a scale from one to five (where one is very bad and five is excellent), whereas Serdyukov before his dismissal received on average 3.07 points.

According to VTsIOM, the defense minister was the most popular minister in Russia in September: his work was then given a mark of 4+ (4.28 points on a scale of one to five).

Forty-six percent of the respondents said they respect the defense minister (against 38% in February 2013). Twenty-eight percent of the respondents said they have high hopes for the defense minister, 25% said they trust him, and 15% sympathize with him.

Negative emotions are far rarer (only 3% sad they do not trust the defense minister, 2% said they are skeptical about him, ad 1% said they are disappointed with him).

In the meanwhile, 48% of the respondents found it difficult to mention Shoigu’s achievements during his tenure as defense minister. The rest of the respondents said he has brought order to the army and regular military training (5%), increased the country’s defense potential, reformed the army and made it more prestigious (2% each, etc. Fifteen percent of the respondents did not notice any achievements by Shoigu.

An overwhelming majority of the respondents could not name the defense minister’s failures: 52% said they believe he does not have any failures and 45% were undecided..

The poll, which was conducted by VTsIOM in 130 populated areas of 42 regions, territories, and republics of Russia in mid November, shows that over half of the respondents (55% of the 1,600 respondents) want conscription to stay in Russia (against 63% in February 2013). The percentage of such respondents is the highest among supporters of the party A Just Russia (69%), the Communist Party (70%) and elderly respondents (64%).

More respondents now support the transition to a contract system in the army (33% against 38 at the beginning of this year). these respondents are primarily supporters of parties that are not represented in the parliament (53%).

The younger the respondents, the more they tend to support this model (28% of elderly respondents and up to 45% of the respondents aged between 25 and 34 said they support contract service in the Russian army).