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78th anniversary of victory over Nazi Germany

Majority of Russians certain USSR could have defeated Hitler, Nazis by itself — poll

According to the survey, 65% of respondents consider Victory Day to be the most important holiday

MOSCOW, May 4. /TASS/. A large majority of Russians (66%) believe that the Soviet Union could have defeated Nazi Germany without help from the allies, as follows from a poll by the Russian Public Opinion Research Center (VTsIOM), uploaded to the pollster’s website on Thursday.

"Asked whether the Soviet Union could have won the war without the allies’ help, a 66% majority answered in the affirmative, while the opposite opinion was shared by a quarter of Russians - 25%," the survey says.

According to the poll, one-third of Russians (34%) believe that the Red Army sustained huge losses because Hitler’s invasion was a great surprise, 18% mentioned Germany’s military and technical superiority, and 12% blamed the heavy casualties on the Stalin-led leadership’s disregard for losses, and only 4% argued that the weakness and ineptitude of the Soviet command was to blame.

According to the survey, 65% of respondents consider Victory Day to be the most important holiday: May 9 has been the top-ranked holiday every year since 2018.

More than half of respondents (63%) associate Victory Day with a military parade. Other frequently mentioned symbols are the St. George Ribbon (58%), the Immortal Regiment street processions (54%), the Eternal Flame (45%), wartime songs (43%) and fireworks display (38%).

The pollster found that nine in ten respondents (89%) have relatives who participated in the Great Patriotic War. The older generation knows more about the participation of their relatives in the Great Patriotic War than young people, because the WWII years and the first years after the war were part of their life.

About the survey

The VTsIOM poll was conducted on April 23, 2023. A total of 1,600 respondents aged over 18 were questioned. The maximum margin of error with a 95% probability did not exceed 2.5%.

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