MOSCOW, 6 September 2023. Russian Public Opinion Research Center (VCIOM) presents the findings of a survey on the opinions of the Russians towards Russia’s relations with the Eastern countries.

Middle East and Far East

In response to the current geopolitical situation Russia’s foreign policy has undergone changes. Shift to the East has become part of the Russian multipolar foreign policy, which translates into strengthening ties with Middle East, Far East, and Central Asia. Today Russia has close cooperation predominantly with China, India, South Korea, Vietnam, Thailand, Iran, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates. Russians tend to have positive associations with these countries: 30% say cooperation with these countries is a right thing; it evokes joy and positive emotions; 14% mention friendship. Other positive associations with the countries of the East are as follows:  technologically and economically developed countries (4%), mutually beneficial cooperation and Russia’s development (3%, each). Certain associations are neutral, for instance, economy, import substitution, selling resources (7%), history and culture, “normal countries” (3%, each). Other opinions are negative: lack of trust, cautiousness, deceit, “they can cheat you” (11%), not beneficial to Russia (4%), negative perceptions (3%). 

Cultural identity

Sixty-five percent of the respondents consider Russia a Eurasian civilization, as it has a unique position between the East and the West. However, differences in culture are debatable. Two-thirds of the Russians think that these cultures have common and distinctive features at the same time (61%). Every fifth believes that these cultures differ significantly (23%); every tenth (11%) finds lots of similarities.

Commerce, tourism, and science

Russia’s shift to the East is aimed at developing relations with the East, rather than with the Western countries, according to most of the respondents (67%). Eleven percent of the respondents do not support this foreign policy; a further 15% say they are indifferent. The older the Russians, the higher their level of support is (76% in the oldest cohort is the highest percentage); the younger the respondents, the more often they are indifferent to such a policy (34% of those aged 25; 22% of those aged 25-34 vs. 9% of those aged 60+).

The respondents have varying opinions as to how to make Russia’s shift to the East beneficial to the country (the question was answered by those who support, fail to answer or are indifferent to the “shift to the East”). First and foremost, they mentioned cooperation in trade and commerce, large investment programs, joint enterprises, two-way entry into new markets (65%). A third of the respondents considers that the focus should be on tourism (36%) and cooperation between scientific organizations, and academic exchange (32%). Every fifth respondent in this group pointed to military cooperation (21%); almost the same number of the respondents mentioned diplomatic, political cooperation and joint business and scientific events, such as Eastern Economic Forum (20%, each). Fewer respondents mention interpersonal communication between ordinary people (15%).

All-Russian telephone survey was conducted 27 August, 2023. A total of 1,600 respondents aged 18 and older took part in the survey. Survey method: telephone interviews, stratified random sample based on a complete list of mobile phone numbers in use in Russia. The data were weighted for socio-demographic characteristics. The margin of error at a 95% confidence level does not exceed 2.5%. In addition to sampling error, minor changes to the wording of questions and different circumstances arising during the fieldwork can introduce bias into the survey.

Key effectiveness indicators, survey of 27 August, 2023:  cooperation rate (CR)* = 0.7824; minimum response rate (MRR)** = 0.0159; response rate (RR)*** = 0.1138. Calculations are based on corporate standard https://profi.wciom.ru/principy_standarty/korporativnyj-standart-po-izmereniyu-rezultativnosti-oprosov-sputnik-vciom/

* CR: the number of complete interviews divided by the sum of: а) complete interviews and b) non-interviews with eligible respondents.

** MRR: the number of complete interviews divided by the sum of: а) complete interviews, b) interrupted interviews after successful screening and c) all the respondents where it is unknown whether they meet the selected criteria or not.

 ** RR is calculated in the same way as MRR, with the only difference that the number of respondents with unknown eligibility decreases proportional to the percentage of eligible cases in the total number of respondents with identified eligibility or non-eligibility.