21 October 2021. VCIOM presents the data of a survey devoted to an incident recently occurred in the Moscow metro.
More than two-thirds of Russians (69%) have heard about the recent incident in the Moscow metro where a woman was verbally abused by male passengers, and another person started to defend her and was beaten (75% of men; 77% of respondents aged 60+); 31% of Russians have not heard about it (45% of the 18-24-year-olds).
According to those who are aware of that, the main cause of the incident is the lack of culture (31%; 33% of persons aged 60+), a large number of newcomers (15%; 18% of persons aged 60+), attackers’ sense of impunity (10%), indifference of people around (8%) and aggression (8%).
Two-third of Russians (67%) think it is better to intervene as soon as you see injustice or rudeness (74% of men; 69% of the 25-34-year-olds and the 45-59-year-olds (in each group)); and 22% believe that you should not intervene to avoid escalation of conflict but to call the police and wait for them to arrive (27% of women; 26% of the 18-24-year-olds).
Thirty-seven percent of Russians (41% of persons aged 60+ and 39% of men) consider that the instigators of the fight in the Moscow metro should be imprisoned (an average of five years would be enough according to respondents); 21% think that a money penalty should be imposed (43% of the 18-24-year-olds; 25% of women), 18% would impose community service (30% of the 18-24-year-olds); 15% think the attackers should be punished by arrest for up to six months (20% of the 35-44-year-olds); 11%, arrest for up to 15 days (20% of persons aged 18-24). Therefore, young Russians aged 18-24 are less likely to support imprisonment to punish the instigators than older generation groups; most of them opt for penalty or community service.
Generally, more than one-third of Russians (37%) say in recent two or three months they have encountered situations where people were behaving in a rude manner or verbally abusing another person; 62% have not encountered such situations. Those who have witnessed similar situations are mainly women (40% vs 35% of men), the 18-24-year-olds (50%), respondents aged 35-44 (46%) and residents of million-plus cities (42%).
Russians shared their ideas as to what can be done to prevent such conflicts in transport (top 3 ideas): proper school and family upbringing (14%; 16-18% of older generation respondents); more police officers (10%; 14% of the 18-24-year-olds); better performance of law enforcement bodies (6%).
Russian nationwide VCIOM-Sputnik survey was conducted on October 16, 2021. A total of 1,600 of Russians aged 18 and older took part in the survey. Results are based on telephone interviews. Stratified dual-frame random sample based on a complete list of Russian landline and mobile phone numbers was used. The data were weighted according to selection probability and social and 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.
Sometimes there can be situations where a person behaves rudely, expresses negative or excessively emotional statements or verbally abuses another person. Have you encountered similar situations over the recent two or three months, or not? | ||||||||
| Total respondents | Men | Women | Aged 18-24 | 25-34 | 35-44 | 45-59 | 60 + |
Yes | 37 | 35 | 40 | 50 | 41 | 46 | 39 | 25 |
No | 62 | 65 | 59 | 50 | 58 | 54 | 60 | 74 |
Don’t know | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
Are you aware, have you heard or do you hear for the first time about the recent situation in the Moscow metro where male passengers started to verbally abuse and to express excessively emotional statements toward a woman, and a male stranger started to defend her and was beaten? (closed-ended question, one answer, % of total respondents) | ||||||||
| Total respondents | Men | Women | Aged 18-24 | 25-34 | 35-44 | 45-59 | 60 + |
Yes, I have heard about that | 69 | 75 | 64 | 55 | 64 | 67 | 69 | 77 |
No, I haven’t | 31 | 25 | 35 | 45 | 36 | 33 | 30 | 23 |
Don’t know | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
In your opinion, what is the main reason behind the fight in the Moscow metro? (open-ended question, up to 3 answers, % of those who heard about the accident) | ||||||||
| Total respondents | Men | Women | Aged 18-24 | 25-34 | 35-44 | 45-59 | 60 + |
Lack of culture / bad manners / ill-breeding (family, school) / loss of morals / rudeness / loutishness / wrong behavior / poor behavior / impertinence | 31 | 30 | 31 | 22 | 33 | 27 | 32 | 33 |
Too many newcomers / they feel at home / newcomers do what they want / impunity for migrants | 15 | 16 | 14 | 10 | 14 | 14 | 14 | 18 |
Impunity / lawlessness / recklessness / debauchery / Attackers felt lawlessness | 10 | 11 | 9 | 7 | 6 | 13 | 10 | 11 |
Indifference of people around, the public, society / noninvolvement / inactivity | 8 | 7 | 9 | 2 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 11 |
Aggression / anger / people are angry, they do not respect each other | 8 | 6 | 10 | 3 | 11 | 7 | 8 | 8 |
Lack of culture among newcomers / different mentality / disrespect, rude behavior by newcomers | 7 | 8 | 7 | 5 | 5 | 9 | 9 | 7 |
Alcohol / alcohol intoxication / alcohol abuse / drunk people | 4 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 6 | 4 | 3 | 4 |
Mentally ill people / troubled persons / inappropriate behavior | 3 | 2 | 4 | 6 | 1 | 5 | 2 | 2 |
Other | 32 | 38 | 26 | 31 | 40 | 32 | 34 | 26 |
Don’t know | 16 | 14 | 18 | 32 | 20 | 19 | 15 | 10 |
In the end, the criminals were arrested, and the victim was hospitalized. Some people think that it is better not to intervene in such situations in order not to incite escalation of conflict but to call the police and wait for them to arrive. On the contrary, others believe that it is important to intervene as soon as you encounter rude behavior or injustice. Which point of view is closer to yours? (closed-ended question, one answer, % of total respondents) | ||||||||
| Total respondents | Men | Women | Aged 18-24 | 25-34 | 35-44 | 45-59 | 60 + |
The former one: it is better not to intervene in such situations in order not to incite escalation of conflict it is better to call the police and to wait for them to arrive instead | 22 | 16 | 27 | 26 | 22 | 22 | 22 | 22 |
The latter one: it is important to intervene as soon as you encounter rude behavior or injustice | 67 | 74 | 61 | 63 | 69 | 64 | 69 | 67 |
Don’t know | 11 | 10 | 12 | 11 | 9 | 14 | 9 | 11 |
In your opinion, what kind of punishment should the instigators of the fight in the Moscow metro receive? | ||||||||
| Total respondents | Men | Women | Aged 18-24 | 25-34 | 35-44 | 45-59 | 60 + |
Imprisonment (how many years?) | 37 | 39 | 34 | 29 | 35 | 34 | 37 | 41 |
Money penalty | 21 | 16 | 25 | 43 | 23 | 22 | 18 | 15 |
Community service | 18 | 15 | 20 | 30 | 22 | 18 | 17 | 12 |
Arrest for up to 6 months | 15 | 10 | 19 | 14 | 16 | 20 | 13 | 14 |
Arrest for up to 15 days | 11 | 9 | 12 | 20 | 9 | 10 | 10 | 10 |
Administrative punishment (administrating a rebuke, naming and shaming etc.) | 7 | 6 | 8 | 13 | 10 | 8 | 8 | 4 |
They should not be punished | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Other (specify) | 22 | 25 | 19 | 11 | 22 | 22 | 25 | 22 |
Don’t know | 9 | 9 | 8 | 5 | 9 | 11 | 8 | 8 |
In your opinion, what should be done to prevent such conflicts in transport and to avoid threat to passengers’ health? | ||||||||
| Total respondents | Men | Women | Aged 18-24 | 25-34 | 35-44 | 45-59 | 60 + |
Family and school upbringing / educating people / upbringing of young people and children / strengthening culture | 14 | 14 | 15 | 5 | 7 | 17 | 18 | 16 |
More police officers, more supervising bodies, guards/ traffic police patrol | 10 | 8 | 11 | 14 | 11 | 11 | 9 | 7 |
Police performance / to react faster/ to improve the performance of law enforcement bodies | 6 | 6 | 5 | 2 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 |
To be more polite, to have an appropriate behavior / be kinder / to treat people with respect | 5 | 3 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 6 |
Video surveillance / more cameras | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 6 | 4 | 4 |
To make punishment tougher / to treat abusers tougher | 4 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 5 | 4 |
To punish / inevitability of punishment / equality before the law | 4 | 4 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 6 | 5 | 2 |
Not to contact / not to incite / to stay at a distance | 3 | 1 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 3 |
Control / establish order / to react tougher | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 6 | 1 | 2 | 3 |
Not to allow the drunk passengers/ inadequate persons/ aggressive people to enter transport | 3 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 2 | 3 | 2 |
To inform the public / media coverage | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 3 |
Nothing can be done | 2 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 1 |
Other | 41 | 42 | 40 | 50 | 46 | 38 | 37 | 42 |
Don’t know | 35 | 36 | 35 | 44 | 39 | 32 | 30 | 37 |