Poll: Over 50% of Russians Favor Strengthening Political, Military Ties With Iran

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Over half of the Russians favor strengthening political ties with Iran, while the same number of respondents favor the development of military and defense industry cooperation with this country, a survey commissioned by the Center for Analysis of Strategies and Technologies (CAST) from the SuperJob portal showed.

The poll was conducted by the SuperJob Research Center from July 14-18, on the eve of Russian President Vladimir Putin's visit to Iran. A total of 1,600 people above 18 years from all regions of Russia took part in the survey.

To the question "Do you think Russia needs further development of military and military-technical cooperation with Iran?" 50% answered affirmatively, 15% answered negatively, and 35% found it difficult to answer, while 54% of respondents championed strengthening of political ties with Iran, 12% did not think it was important and 34% found it difficult to answer.

A general view shows the St. Basil's Cathedral and the Kremlin's Spasskaya Tower on a sunny autumn day, in Moscow, Russia

© Sputnik / Alexei Danichev

According to the poll, 47 % of Russians deem it necessary to study and use Iranian experience in countering Western sanctions pressure, while 42 % of Russians considered Iran as a friendly country.

Last Tuesday, the Kremlin confirmed that Putin would travel to Tehran on July 19 to participate in a trilateral summit on Syria with Erdogan and Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi.

On Monday, Kremlin aide Yury Ushakov said that Russia and Iran have plans to bring their relations to the strategic partnership level, adding that a new agreement is in work.