Despite a high level of the fear of terrorism due to the recent developments in Europe, the Russian confidence in the capacities of the authorities to prevent new attacks has not weakened.  

MOSCOW, August 3, 2016.  Russian Public Opinion Research Centre (VCIOM) presents the data of the survey describing how Russians assess the level of terrorist threat and the capacity of the authorities to prevent terror attacks.

More than half of Russians (60%) believe that events similar to the Nice attack may occur in Russia.

Today the fear of being a victim of terror attack (49 p.) is at November 2015 and January 2014 levels (after the terror attacks in Paris and Volgograd): the index* value is 50 p. (respectively), on a scale from 10 to 90 p. Over the measurement period this indicator has been about 37-55 p. Seventy-two percent of respondents have fears about themselves and their relatives.

However, the confidence in the authorities’ capacity to protect the population is high (66%); the index** is 38 p. on a scale from -100 to 100 p. (to compare, it was 35 p. in November 2015).

What really threatens Russia is the ISIL (34%). The Caucasus and the U.S. pose less threat to Russia than before, according to respondents.

*Index of fears of being a victim of terror attack. The index is based on the question “Are you afraid that you or your relatives may become a victim of terror attack?” The coefficients from 0.9 to 0.1 are assigned to the answers. The index is measured in points and can vary between 10 and 90. The higher the index value is, the higher the fear of being a victim is.

**Index shows respondents’ subjective assessment of the capacities of authorities to protect the population against new threats. The indicator is calculated as a difference of positive and negative answers to the question “In your opinion, are Russian authorities capable of protecting the population against new terror attacks?” The Index is measured in points and can vary between -100 and 100. The higher the index value is, the higher the confidence in protection is.

The VCIOM survey was carried out on July 23-24, 2016 in 130 settlements, 46 regions and 9 federal districts of Russia. The sample size involved 1600 persons. The survey was conducted with multi-stage stratified sample based on general rule of walking and quotas at the final selection stage; the sample is representative of the Russian population aged 18 and over, according to sex, age, education, type of settlement.  The margin of error (taking into account the design effect) with 95% confidence interval does not exceed 3.5%. The survey method is community-based formalized face-to-face interviews. In addition to sampling error, minor changes in question wording and different circumstances arising during the field work can introduce bias into the survey.

Note: Using materials from the websites 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.