Russians' dislike of Western nations has soared amid the Ukrainian crisis, and an increasing number of Russians think that Moscow should side with such countries as China, India, North Korea and Syria in its foreign policy, a poll shows.
The number of Russians whose attitude to the U.S. is either "bad" or "very bad" has grown to 56 percent this month from 39 percent in March 2013, according to a survey published Tuesday by Levada Center, an independent pollster. The number of those who look negatively upon the European Union rose to 41 percent from 25 percent over the same period.
The number of respondents who said they view the U.S. positively has dropped to 34 percent this month from 48 percent in March 2013 and from 56 percent a decade ago. The number of those who see the EU in a positive or mostly positive light has decreased to 45 percent this month from 58 percent a year ago and from 77 percent in 2004.
About 12 percent of Russians see their country's relations with the U.S. as "hostile," compared to 4 percent at the start of this year. Another 35 percent described relations with the U.S. as "tense," compared to 13 percent in January.
Relations with the EU were perceived as "tense" by 27 percent, compared to 9 percent at the start of this year. Another 5 percent of respondents saw relations as "hostile," compared with 1 percent in January.
In a question that allowed for multiple answers, 10 percent said in March that Russia should cooperate with the U.S. in its foreign policy, while cooperation with Western European nations was favored by 38 percent, and with Japan by 18 percent. This compares to 18 percent, 48 percent and 22 percent respectively in January 2013.
China and India were selected as good foreign-policy partners for Russia by 36 percent of respondents, compared to 30 percent in January 2013. Cuba, Venezuela, Syria and North Korea were named as good international partners by 14 percent, compared to 10 percent in the previous poll.
The number of people who said that Russia should side with other former Soviet republics on the international arena has remained unchanged at 46 percent.
The poll was conducted among 1,603 people across Russia from March 7-10. The margin of error did not exceed 3.4 percentage points.
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