15.03.2003 Russia, Moscow. A leftist rally staged to denounce the US-led war in Iraq.
Photo: Ilya Pitalev
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Russians Expect United States’ Attacks
October 11, Russia has enemies who can unleash a war against it, a majority of Russians say in sociologists’ polls.
Public Opinion Fund (FOM) has been researching this issue since 1998, and the share of people who believe that Russia has enemies capable of launching a war constantly changes along with foreign-policy.
FOM’s recent survey held in early October shows that out of 1500 poll participants 68 percent believe that Russia has external enemies.
As many as 25 percent believe the war against Russia can be waged by the United States, 7 percent believe that Russia is threatened by Arab and Islamic countries, though they do not name any. The same number of respondents believe their external enemy is Chechnya.
Five percent do not rule an attack from Georgia, 3 percent believe China to be a possible aggressor. Afghanistan, Iraq, Japan and Great Britain are ranked among enemies by 2 percent of respondents each.
At the same time, 68 percent of Russians are confident that the country has friendly powers too, though 16 percent of respondents state the opposite.
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