No more than 18 percent of the polled apprehend that the attitude of Europe and the United States will worsen for long.
Photo: Dmitry Dukhanin
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Enemy for Short While
Most of the Russians don't believe that relations with the West will materially worsen in the wake of the operation on forcing Georgia to peace. At the same time, the common views are that Russia should closely cooperate with the nations that don't share the standing of the West, signaled the recent polls held by All-Russia's Center for Public Opinion Studies. The anti-West sentiment is especially strong in Moscow, St. Petersburg and Siberia.
No more than 18 percent of the polled apprehend that the attitude of Europe and the United States will worsen for long, while another 18 percent foresee no changes. The most common opinion (47 percent) is that the relations will slightly worsen at first but then become normal again. This surety is based on historic experience, said Stepan Livov from All-Russian Center for Public Opinion Studies. The mutually beneficial economic ties of Europe and Russia continued even in time of the Cold War.
Regardless, some 47 percent of respondents view such countries as the United States, Germany, Great Britain, Japan as the enemies of Russia, and no more than 37 percent find some common interests with such nations (fighting criminal activities, terrorists, environmental disaster).
Of interest is that residents of Central and Siberian Federal Districts manifest the strongest anti-West spirit, while the people of Ural and Far East are the most liberal. Given the country in general, no more than 33 percent think that Russia should step up its close cooperation with Western Europe and the United States, as we have quite a number of common purposes to attain and common interests to meet. But 47 percent think so in the Far East on fear of growing influence of China.
Anyway, more and more Russians tend to advocate cooperating with the nations that don't share western views. Their portion grew from 35 percent in 1998 to today's 44 percent, while Moscow and St. Petersburg have 58 percent.
www.kommersant.com
All the Article in Russian as of Sep. 05, 2008
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