Russians are proud of their country, its history, culture, science and army, and are not ready to exchange it for any other country.

MOSCOW, September 16, 2016.  Russian Public Opinion Research Centre (VCIOM) presents the data of the survey devoted to what community Russians feel being part of; and what recent events evoke pride. 

Belonging to Russia is the key self-identification for Russians: 59% of respondents consider themselves Russian citizens. Over the recent two years, there has been an increase in the share of those who consider themselves “just a human” (from 21% in 2014 to 31% in 2016) and specify their family status (from 12% to 19%); at the same time, a sense of closeness with people from the same city /rural area has weakened (from 24% to 16%).

An overwhelming majority of Russians are proud of Russia’s history (90%) and culture (88%), its strong army (90%) and science (82%). They also point out sport achievements (75%), Russia’s position in the international arena (72%). Over the last years, the patriotic feelings have strengthened.  In contrast to that, the public attitudes towards Russia’s living standards stand out: only 19% are proud of them; 76% would not say that.  

Russians say that the most important events of the recent decade have been the Crimea’s incorporation (14%), Sochi Winter Olympics (12%) and the strengthening of the armed forces (10%). Today every fourth respondent (25%) thinks that the Russian president is the most considerable contemporary figure.

Most of Russians (70%) are not ready to leave Russia permanently (70%). Those who think it is possible (only 23%) are mainly young Russians (36% of those aged 18 - 24), residents of Moscow and St. Petersburg (32%).

As the Medialogia data analysis suggests, a total number of 120 thousand publications about patriotism were found in the Russian media. This topic referred to the “Immortal regiment” action, the Remembrance Day, the Putin’s statement that Russia has “no national idea besides patriotism and there can be no other”, patriotic education, and an idea to create the rating of the regions’ patriotism.

The VCIOM opinion poll was conducted on June 18-19, 2016; 1600 persons were surveyed in 130 settlements, 46 regions and 9 federal districts of Russia. The sample is representative of the Russian population aged 18 and over and stratified by sex, age, education, type of settlement. The survey was conducted with multi-stage stratified sample based on general rule of walking and quotas at the final selection stage. 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 structured face-to-face interviews. Apart from the margin of error, minor changes in question wording and different circumstances arising during the field work should be taken into account.

Russian media analysis is carried out by the Medialogia Company using the Medialogia media database involving 32000 sources such as television, radio, newspapers, magazines, news agencies and online media. The study took place from January to September 2016.   

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