Many people in Russia see themselves surrounded by foreign enemies while viewing their own country as a victim, according to a survey.
01/28/2026, 04:3501/28/2026, 04:35
This is a consequence of incessant anti-Western propaganda, said Russian sociologist Lev Gudkov from the independent Levada Center Moscow in Berlin when presenting his results.
People on Red Square in Moscow.Image: keystone
On behalf of the German Sakharov Foundation, the institute, which is classified as a foreign agent in Russia, researched the Russians’ worldview after four years of the Ukraine war. In the more than 30 years since the end of the Soviet Union, Russia has only gone to war for six years, Gudkov said. He spoke of a “militarization of consciousness”.
Poland is an enemy, the USA is a major competitor
Among the more than 1,600 respondents, 62 percent saw Poland and Lithuania as hostile countries, followed by Great Britain (57 percent), Germany (50 percent) and Sweden (40 percent). The USA was predominantly classified as a competitor (53 percent). When asked about five friendly countries, Belarus, China, Kazakhstan, India and North Korea were mentioned most frequently – with the exception of India, repressive to dictatorial states.
The image of the USA among Russians has changed several times, positively or negatively, over the past decades. Things were bad under President Joe Biden because of support for Ukraine. And things improved with the inauguration of Donald Trump, who promised a quick end to the war.
Trump is supposed to bring the peace that Putin doesn’t want
“People are tired of the war,” said Gudkov. The hopes were transferred to Trump because it was clear that Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin would not end the war and that nothing could be done about it. But the longing for peace does not mean a willingness to compromise:
“The Russians are convinced that Ukraine will give up and surrender.”
The Russians see the war as being imposed by the West. Russia has never been an aggressor or initiator of conflicts with other countries – in 1998, 36 percent of Russians agreed with this statement. By 2024, when the invasion of Ukraine had already lasted two years, this proportion had grown to 65 percent. (sda/dpa)