Almost 80 percent of Russians say they are not affected by Western sanctions
The vast majority of Russians, 78 percent, say they have not encountered any serious problems due to sanctions imposed on their country by the US and its allies, a poll has found.
42 percent of respondents said that they were not overly concerned with the issue. The poll by the independent Russian public opinion research center, Levada, revealed that when facing the question if foreign sanctions have created problems for themselves and their families, 33 percent of Russians said that there were no such problems at all.
45 percent answered that they had acknowledged minor problems after the sanctions were imposed, but described them as not serious. Only three percent of Russians said that Western economic and political pressure had caused serious problems for them and their families.
In the same research, 26 percent of Russians said they feel no concern whatsoever over the West’s political and economic sanctions, 42 percent admitted slight, not excessive concern over the issue.
Researchers asked citizens what, in their opinion, was the attitude to Russia in the Western nations. 25 percent of Russians said that they thought that people in the West feared their country and 21 percent described the emotion as anxiety. 14 percent said that in their opinion Westerners had no special feelings about Russia and treated it as any other foreign country.
When asked what was the average Russians’ attitude to Western countries, 19 percent of respondents mentioned anxiety, 40 percent answered that there were no special feelings and only three percent said that their compatriots felt fear.
At the same time, researchers said that the share of respondents who agreed with the statement that the Russian Federation is currently in international isolation was on at a record high level of 56 percent. 37 percent of Russians said that, in their opinion, the country was “not in” or “completely out of” international isolation.
Still, 54 percent of Russians say that, in their opinion, their country must repair ties with Western nations and 28 percent think that Russia should put additional distance between itself and the West.
