MOSCOW, October 9 (RIA Novosti) - Three-quarters of Russians view the United States as a hostile country while China, Belarus and Kazakhstan are viewed as the most friendly states, a Russian Public Opinion Research Center (VCIOM) poll published Thursday revealed.
"The most hostile country to us Russians... is the United States, and if six years ago a quarter of respondents (25 percent in 2008) thought so, today - three-quarters think so (73 percent in 2014). The main "friend" of Russia in the eyes of our fellow citizens ... is China, and for six years the Russians have significantly strengthened their opinion (from 23 percent to 51 percent) ... The top 3 countries also include Belarus (32 percent) and Kazakhstan (20 percent)," VCIOM poll informed.
Sociologists added that the proportion of those who noted the extremely tense relations between Russia and Ukraine significantly increased (from 21 percent to 32 percent). The perception of Germany and the European Union became more negative: from one percent to 10 percent in each case.
Some consider the United Kingdom (9 percent), Poland (6 percent), Canada (3 percent) and France (3 percent) to be hostile to Russia. As for the Baltic countries, by contrast, they are viewed as less hostile to Russia (from six percent to one percent).
The survey was conducted in late September among 1.6 thousand people in 130 cities across Russia.
