Belarus tops the countries towards which Russians feel kindly, with China in second position, receiving 80 percent of positive reviews. Just 11 percent of Russians feel badly towards Belarus, and 8 percent feel similarly towards China. Meanwhile, 55 percent of Russians declare a positive attitude towards Israel.
Interestingly, Russians are now demonstrating less interest in the West: in early 2014, 51 percent of respondents felt positively towards western states, but the figure has now fallen to 20 percent. Just 24 percent of Russians sympathise with Ukrainians (against 26 percent in early 2014).
Over 50 percent of Russians believe that their country is a rival or an enemy to the West and 56 percent consider that Russia needs to strengthen its relations with the Muslim world.
By Alexander Benkovsky
