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Europe is More Important than U.S.: Russian Poll
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Bush and Putin
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MOSCOW, May 24 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) – The majority of Russians are not enthusiastic about developing Russian-American relations or raising cooperation level between the two states, especially not at the expense of Russia’s relations with other blocks, such as the European Union (EU), according to a Russian poll Friday.
The poll was conducted on May 16, 2002, by the Russian Corporation “Public View”, specialized in measuring people’s opinions on major issues. The results were published on the Russian Corporation’s website Thursday, May 23.
According to the sample, comprising 15,000 Russian citizens, 47% of them believed the EU to be far more important to them than the U.S., 28% thought it was equally important, whereas only 4% believed the other way around.
Regarding Russians’ feelings towards U.S., 58% of the sample saw the United States as ‘unfriendly country’, while 25% believed otherwise.
Public View conducted a similar poll on March, 2002, according to which 71% of those asked saw the U.S. as ‘unfriendly country’. Recently, a U.S. poll, conducted by a U.S. corporation, showed that 41% of Americans saw Russia as ‘unfriendly state’.
Asked if they appreciate U.S. President George W. Bush, 45% responded ‘negatively’, 25% positively, with 30% believing the question to be ‘tough’.
Another question included dealt with which country needed the summit more than the other. Results showed that 24% believed the recent U.S.-Russia summit was more important to the latter, 22% believed otherwise, while 41% believed the summit to be equally important for both countries.
The poll showed that 52% of Russians considered NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) as ‘hostile block’.
Bush is currently visiting Russia to sign a landmark Nuclear Arms Treaty, which slashes the two countries' arsenals by two-thirds.
The meeting between the two leaders is expected to see the clinch of a new strategic partnership accord, effectively drawing a line under the mutual suspicion and nuclear rivalry of the Cold War era.
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