Almost three-quarters of Russians
believe that criticism of the Kremlin's military strategy in Aleppo
is an attempt to weaken the country, a survey by state-run pollster
VTSIOM reported Tuesday.
Seventy-three percent of respondents
said that Western complaints on Russian airstrikes were unjustified,
while just 6 percent believed that the military had “gone too
far.”
Almost a third of respondents (32 percent) said that
they supported the government's current policy in Syria as a whole,
with a further 16 percent claiming that Russia should push for
further involvement in the region.
One in five (21 percent) said that the Kremlin should be more cautious in its military policies, while 14 percent believed that Russia should withdraw completely from the conflict.
Moscow's ongoing airstrikes in support of Syrian President Bashar Assad have drawn widespread global condemnation. French President Francois Hollande and British Foreign Minister Boris Johnson has both equated bombing in the besieged city of Aleppo to “war crimes,” with Johnson even calling for protests outside of Britain's Russian embassy.
The Kremlin has
defended its actions, labeling Johnson's words as “Russophobic
hysteria.”
Some 1,600 people took part in the poll, which was conducted between Oct. 8 – 9 in 55 Russian regions and cities.
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