Russians warming to West, keener on EU than US – poll

(Interfax – January 31, 2013)

The Russians like the European Union more than the USA and believe that in its foreign policy Moscow should gravitate towards Western Europe and the CIS countries, Russian Interfax news agency reported, quoting an opinion poll carried out by the Levada Centre in January.

In the poll, 64 per cent of the participants said they liked the EU (56 per cent in 2012), and 22 disliked it (25 per cent in 2012), Interfax learnt from Levada Centre sociologists.

In January 2013, 53 per cent of those polled said they like the USA in general (44 per cent in January 2012), and 40 per cent said they disliked that country (34 per cent in 2012).

At the same time, a majority (55 per cent) negatively assessed the current relations between Moscow and Washington, describing them as “cold”, “tense” and even “hostile”. Forty per cent, on the contrary, consider them “friendly”, “good” and “calm”.

Moscow’s relations with the EU were positively assessed by 62 per cent, and negatively by 29 per cent.

Asked which countries Russia should primarily focus on in its foreign policy, 48 per cent named Western European countries, 46 per cent CIS countries, 30 per cent India and China, 22 per cent Japan, and only 18 per cent the USA.

According to 35 per cent of the respondents, in the developed world Russia is treated as a “friend” and “partner”; 35 per cent believe it is seen as a “competitor”, and 8 per cent think it is regarded as “enemy”. Fifteen per cent believe that the developed countries “do not pay much attention to Russia”.

The poll was conducted in 130 towns and villages in 45 Russian regions (1,596 people aged 18 and older) on 18-21 January.