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Poll shows almost third of Russians see US as "unfriendly" state

The US is now perceived as an aggressor (4%), "enemy number one" (4%), provocateur (2%), a country seeking global domination (2%) and a state carrying out anti-Russian policy (2%)

MOSCOW, August 31. /TASS/. Some 59% of Russians consider the United States government as hostile, compared with 2% 25 years ago, a poll carried out by the state-run Russian Public Opinion Research Center (VTsIOM) showed on Monday.

The survey said that in 1990, more than one third of Russians said the US authorities were "friendly-minded" towards their country. Today, 31% of Russian citizens believe that the US is "unfriendly."

Since the perestroika years in Russia, the relation to Washington has changed drastically. "Russians have mostly negative feelings towards the United States of America," the poll says.

The US is now perceived as an aggressor (4%), "enemy number one" (4%), provocateur (2%), a country seeking global domination (2%) and a state carrying out anti-Russian policy (2%).

Some 15% of respondents say the US is a country with high rate of crime and decline in moral values (compared with 1% in 1990). The same number of Russians (compared with 1% in 1990) noted the absence of "human warmth" in interpersonal relations there.

A quarter of century ago, 35% of Russians said the US was characterized as a country with high living standards (compared with 12% in 2015). Another 20% of Russians said the US is a country where success depends on personal efforts (compared with 7% in 2015).

VTsIOM polled 1,600 Russians in 130 cities and towns of 46 regions on July 25-26. The statistical error margin does not exceed 3.5%.