Most Russians want their leaders to maintain current course regardless of sanctions
Over a half of Russian citizens expect Western nations to prolong sanctions against their country, but an even larger share think the government must maintain its sovereign political course, regardless of external pressure.
According to the latest research conducted by independent public opinion research center Levada, 70 percent of Russians currently want their nation’s political and economic course to remain unchanged, while only 19 percent want the authorities to reach a compromise with Western nations, even if this requires some tradeoffs. The rest remain undecided.
At the same time, 57 percent of Russians said they didn’t think the sanctions on their country would be lifted any time soon. Meanwhile, 20 percent said they expect the restrictions to be canceled in the near future, and 22 percent could not give a direct answer to the question.
The same poll showed that the share of Russians with a negative attitude towards the United States stood at 61 percent, up from 47 percent in January of this year. Meanwhile, 55 percent reported having a negative attitude towards the European Union, also up from 47 percent in January.
When researchers asked Russians about their attitude towards Ukraine, 24 percent said it was positive, but 59 percent said they had no sympathy for the country, as compared to 33 and 54 percent, respectively, in January of this year.
Another Levada poll, which was conducted in early June, also showed that Russians currently see the United States and Ukraine as the two countries most hostile to Russia, while China, Belarus and Kazakhstan were named as the friendliest.
In the same survey, 54 percent of Russians said they saw no signs that Russia-US relations would improve any time soon, 17 percent said relations have deteriorated over the past year, while 21 percent told researchers that they had improved. Views on Russia’s relationship with the European Union were similar: 53 percent of respondents said relations remained unchanged, 21 percent said they had deteriorated, and 14 percent said they had improved.
When asked if their country was now isolated from the “international community,” 46 percent of the Russian public said it was, while 45 percent said it wasn’t.
