The share of Russian citizens, related negatively to NATO, reached its maximum since 2008. This is evidenced by the results of a study conducted by the American Institute of public opinion Gallup.
“67 percent of Russians in 2016, compared to 29 percent in 2012, considered NATO a threat, it is the highest rate recorded by Gallup since then, he began to track the Russians’ views on NATO in 2008,” reported the study authors.
The share of Russians who see the Alliance as protection amounted to only 3 percent, another 20 percent don’t believe NATO is no threat, no defense.
According to Gallup, the highest proportion who consider NATO a threat and in Belarus — 54 percent.
The Institute also noted the growing number of those who have a negative attitude towards NATO, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Armenia and Tajikistan.
The percentage of Ukrainians considering the Alliance as a threat has increased from 20 percent in 2014 to 35 percent in 2016. As suggested by the authors of the survey, this situation is associated with fatigue of Ukrainian citizens from the conflict in the East of the country, and also from the difficult situation in the economy and rising crime rate. “Not seeing a clear path the end of the conflict, the Ukrainians are losing faith in the ability of NATO to help them in this crisis,” he warned in Gallup.