Poll suggests positive shift in Russians’ attitude to Georgia

(Interfax – August 7, 2013) Ahead of the fifth anniversary of the so-called “five-day war” between Russia and Georgia back in August 2008, more Russians show a positive attitude towards Georgia, Russian privately-owned Interfax news agency reported on 7 August, quoting the results of a recent poll conducted by an independent pollster, the Levada Centre.

The full results of the poll were published on the Levada Centre website on the same day (http://www.levada.ru/01-08-2013/obstanovka-na-severnom-kavkaze-v-predstavleniyakh-rossiyan)

The survey was conducted on 18-22 July 2013 among 1,601 people aged 18 and over, in 130 towns and villages in 45 regions. The statistical margin of error is 3.4 per cent, the website said.

When asked about their general attitude towards Georgia, some 44 per cent of the respondents chose the “generally positive” option (in 2012 it was chosen by 39 and back in September 2008 by 15 per cent of those polled). The number of those who had a negative attitude towards Georgia has dropped from 40 in 2008 to 32 per cent, although in comparison with 2012, the number has almost remained the same (increasing slightly from 31 per cent). In the meantime, the number of those who chose the option “very bad” has dropped from 34 in 2008 and 12 per cent in 2012 to 8 per cent; and of those who chose “very good” was still quite low, rising from 1 per cent in 2008 to 4 per cent in 2012 and 2013.

Asked whether the Georgian breakaway regions, Abkhazia and South Ossetia, should be independent, a relative majority of the polled, the same as in 2012, said yes (42 and 43 per cent respectively), while one in three respondents said Abkhazia and South Ossetia should become part of Russia (30 and 29 per cent). Only 9 per cent of those polled said Abkhazia should be part of Georgia and some 7 per cent said the same about South Ossetia.

In the meantime, some 48 and 45 per cent of those polled respectively believe Abkhazia and South Ossetia are currently independent states, while 28 and 27 per cent think they are part of Russia and 11 and 13 per cent respectively, part of Georgia (as compared with 2012, the number has slightly increased from 9 for Abkhazia and 8 per cent for South Ossetia).

The poll also suggests that the recognition of Abkhazia and South Ossetia as independent states by Russia back in 2008 is gradually losing its significance in the eyes of people since only 20 per cent of those polled think Russia benefited from the move (40 per cent in 2008 and 28 in 2012 respectively). At the same time, the majority of the polled (49 per cent) believe the move “brought neither benefit nor harm” to the country (28 per cent in 2008 and 48 per cent in 2012), and some 11 per cent of the respondents think the move did not bring any good to Russia (same as in 2012).