Europeans' Opinions Divided on Alleged 'Russian Threat' to Poland, the Baltics

NATO's claims about a potential Russian invasion of Poland and the Baltic countries have been met with skepticism by Italians, Germans and the French while in the UK and US citizens hold different opinions. This is according to a survey conducted by Ifop for Sputnik.Polls (Sputnik news agency and radio) ahead of a NATO summit in Brussels.

The majority of respondents in Italy and Germany (69% and 60% respectively) and almost half of the French survey participants (47%) do not believe that Russia has plans to take over Poland and the Baltics. The opinion was most widely held among the highly-educated senior citizens.

On the contrary, in the United Kingdom and the United States, well-educated people do not rule out Russia's invasion of Eastern Europe (43% Brits and 55% Americans, primarily Democrats).

Majority of Germans and Italians Don’t Believe in ‘Russia’s Threat’ to Poland and Baltics

© Sputnik

The poll was conducted by France's oldest public opinion company, Ifop, between April 21-25, 2017, in France, Germany, Italy, and the UK, and between April 21-27 in the United States. As many as 4,005 respondents, aged 18 plus, participated in the poll, making it a representative sample of the gender, age, and geographical distribution among the public in said countries. The maximum error is +/- 3.1% across a country with the confidence level of 95%.

In June 2016, NATO announced the deployment of four battalions in Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, and Poland under the pretext of protecting the region from potential Russian aggression. Moscow repeatedly stressed that Russia will never attack any country of the alliance. As Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov noted, "NATO is well aware of that but uses the excuse to deploy more troops around the Russian border."

About the Sputnik.Polls Project

The international public opinion project was created in January 2015, in partnership with leading research companies such as Populus, Ifop, and Forsa. The project organizes regular surveys in the United States and Europe on the most sensitive social and political issues.

Sputnik (sputniknews.com) is a news agency and radio network with multimedia news hubs in dozens of countries. Sputnik broadcasts through its websites in over 30 languages, as well as on analog and digital radio, mobile apps, and social media. Sputnik newswires, available by subscription, 24/7 in English, Arabic, Spanish and Chinese.

See other Sputnik.Polls surveys: http://sputniknews.com/trend/sputnik_polls_2016/