Russians see the West as 'friend' or 'partner'
(Baonghean.vn) - Russia's Levada Center for Social Research announced the results of a survey on February 18. Accordingly, nearly 80% of Russians believe that the country should become a "friend" or "partner" with the West.
The Levada Center polled more than 1,600 people in 50 regions across Russia from January 23 to 29. Overall, the poll showed that Russians are not interested in confrontational foreign policy and are not ready for the country to go to war with any opponent.
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Specifically, only 3% of respondents considered the West to be Russia's enemy, 16% said they considered the West to be a rival. Meanwhile, 67% of respondents said that Russia should consider the West as a partner and 11% said that Russia and the West should be friends. Among Western countries, Russians have a more favorable view of the European Union than the United States, with 49% of respondents appreciating Russia's relations with Europe, while the figure for the United States was only 42%. These figures are considered quite surprising in the context of Russia's relationship with the West having dropped to a very low level since Russia's annexation of the Crimean peninsula.
Regarding relations with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), 61% of survey respondents said that NATO member countries should not fear Russia. On the contrary, 44% of Russians said that Russia should not fear NATO members.
A notable point in this survey is that the number of people with an unfavorable view of China has increased significantly. In a survey in November 2019, the number of people with an unfavorable view of China was 18%, but in this survey it increased to 24%. Sociologists at the Levada Center explain that Russians' fear of China may stem from the Covid-19 epidemic spreading in this country.
