Russians feel sympathy for the Middle East refugees; they mainly blame the United States for the migrant crisis.

MOSCOW, October 19, 2015. Russian Public Opinion Research Centre (VCIOM) presents the data of the survey describing how Russians assess the European migrant crisis caused by the large flow of refugees from the Middle East countries.

The European migrant crisis has not gone unnoticed in the Russian society: 86% of Russians report that they know about the problem. Those who are more informed are elderly persons rather than young Russians aged 18-24. Most of respondents regard the Middle East migrants as forced migrants escaping war and saving their lives. Other reasons behind their desire to leave their home country are economic hardship, unemployment, etc.

According to Medialogia Company analysis, the topic of the European refugees was mentioned more than 100 000 times in the Russian media in 2015. The peak of the references was in September (50 000). The media reported the aggravation of the situation in Hungary and at the Hungary-Bosnia border. It was also reported that Angela Merkel and the Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban discussed the refugee situation. Besides, the mass media covered the negotiations concerning the refugee quotas. The most cited European countries related to the topic of refugees are Germany, Hungary, Greece, France and Austria.

More than one-third of Russians (36%) blame the United Stated for the migrant crisis. According to the data of a previous survey, most of respondents (56%) assign the responsibility for the Syrian war to the U.S. Rarer respondents mention the leadership of the Middle East countries (16%). Certain respondents believe that it is the world political system that is to be blamed in general (9%) or the European Union, in particular, (6%). A further 5% cite terrorists and Islamists among key instigators.

Only 2% of respondents (within the margin of error) consider that the ones that are to be blamed are people who decided to leave. The fist feelings that Middle East migrants evoke are compassion (61%) and rarer condemnation (3%). Every fifth (21%) is indifferent to them. Most of respondents express positive emotions towards countries that receive refugees. They respect them (29%) and feel sympathy for them (22%). A further 11% of respondents have a liking for them. Dislike, condemnation and malevolence are rarely expressed (4%, 7% and 2%, respectively); 22% are indifferent.

The VCIOM opinion poll was conducted on October 10-11, 2015; 1600 respondents were interviewed in 132 settlements in 46 regions of Russia. The margin of error does not exceed 3.5%.    Monitoring and analysis of the Russian media publications were carried out by the Medialogia Company using approximately 27000 sources such as television, radio, newspapers, magazines, information agencies and online media. Research period: January – October 2015.

TOP 5 MOST CITED COUNTRIES in the context of the topic of “refugees”, September 2015

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