Russians believe that the actions of Russian authorities against the Greenpeace activists were adequate. According to respondents, any attempts preventing Russia from exploring the Arctic must be suppressed.
MOSCOW, September 3, 2013. Russian Public Opinion Research Center (VCIOM) presents the data concerning the following questions: how well Russians are informed about the incident in the Pechora Sea involving the Greenpeace activists; how Russians assess the actions of Russian authorities; whether Russia should suppress any further attempts of foreign ecological organizations impeding Russian exploration of the Arctic region.
Most of Russians (60%) know about the incident involving Greenpeace activists who tried to penetrate the Prirazlomnaya oil platform in the Pechora Sea performing their action against the oil production in the Arctic: 21% are well informed; 39% know about it in general. Those who are most informed are residents of Moscow and St.Petersburg (74%). Thirty-eight percent of respondents have learnt about that from the interviewer.
Actions of Russia are approved by most of respondents (60%). The higher the level of education of Russians is, the more often they approve of this action (54% of Russians with low level of education; 62% of those with higher level of education). The share of those who think that the actions of Russia were too tough is 17%; the share of those who call these actions too soft is 8%.
Two-thirds of Russians believe that Russia should suppress any attempts of the foreign environmental organizations preventing Russia from exploring the Arctic region (66%). They are opposed by 20% of respondents.
The VCIOM opinion polls were conducted on September 28-29, 2013. 1600 respondents were interviewed in 130 communities in 42 regions of Russia. The margin of error does not exceed 3.4%.
The Greenpeace environmental organization has recently performed an action against the oil production in the Arctic region; the activists tried to penetrate the Prirazlomnaya oil platform of Gazprom in the Pechora Sea. Do you personally know/have you heard/ do you hear for the first time about that? (closed-ended question, one answer) | |||||||
| Total respondents | Moscow and St.Petersburg | Million cities | More than 500 ths | 100 - 500 ths | Less than 100 ths | Rural area |
I know well about that | 21 | 29 | 13 | 18 | 22 | 20 | 21 |
I heard something about that but not in details | 39 | 45 | 42 | 30 | 38 | 35 | 44 |
I hear for the first time about that | 38 | 26 | 36 | 50 | 38 | 44 | 33 |
Hard to tell | 2 | 1 | 9 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 1 |
The attempt to penetrate the Russian oil platform was stopped by frontier guards: the activists were arrested for the further ascertainment procedures. How would you assess the actions of the Russian authorities? (closed-ended question, one answer) | |||||
| Total respondents | Elementary, or lower, incomplete secondary education
| Secondary (school, technical college)
| Secondary special (college)
| Incomplete higher (not less than 3 years), higher |
Actions were too tough | 17 | 16 | 15 | 21 | 15 |
Actions were adequate | 60 | 54 | 59 | 60 | 62 |
Actions were too soft | 8 | 11 | 8 | 7 | 8 |
Hard to tell/refuse to answer | 15 | 18 | 18 | 13 | 15 |
In your opinion, should Russia suppress attempts of environmental organizations preventing Russia from exploring the Arctic region, or not? (closed-ended question, one answer) | |||||||
| Total respondents | Moscow and St.Petersburg | Million cities | More than 500 ths | 100 - 500 ths | Less than 100 ths | Rural area |
Rather yes | 66 | 61 | 67 | 58 | 64 | 68 | 70 |
Rather not | 20 | 17 | 21 | 25 | 20 | 22 | 18 |
Hard to tell | 14 | 22 | 11 | 17 | 16 | 10 | 12 |
Note: Using materials from the site www.wciom.ru or wciom.com, as well as distributed by VCIOM, the reference to the source (or hyperlink for the electronic media) is obligatory!