According to the study, when individual foreigners are mentioned, quite a number of respondents (though a minority) are not against their owning a flat (38%), a small plot of land for personal needs (29%) and even company shares (19%). However, the transformation of an abstract foreigner into the owner of means of production, whether land or enterprise, is widely resented.
The Russians' attitude toward foreign property on the territory of the country is undergoing rapid change, says CSSI director Mikhail Gorshkov. This change is hardly in favor of more tolerance toward the transfer of any kind of facilities under foreign jurisdiction.
The report says that such treatment of foreign property is explained by geopolitical reasons, the shaping of Russia's status on the world scene. "The position is largely based on the general disappointment with the West's treatment of Russia. The Russians are in general fond of Europe but nevertheless they cannot fail to understand that the West has viewed Russia in the recent years with an eye to their own benefits rather than in the spirit of good-neighborliness," the study showed.
