MOSCOW, 28 June 2022. Russian Public Opinion Research Center (VCIOM) presents the findings of a survey devoted to the Russian opinions about the “foreign agent” law.

Foreign agents: who are they?

“The term “foreign agent” evokes negative connotations among Russians (15%) such as “spy, scout” (14%), “betrayer” (7%) and “public enemy” (6%). Fewer Russians cited word associations corresponding to the legal interpretation: foreign agent is a person who acts in the interests of a foreign country (4%) and receives funding from abroad (3%). “Foreign agent” does not evoke any associations in the minds of 11% of Russians.

Foreign agent law: awareness and approvals

Russians are well aware of the foreign agent law (70%). Superficial knowledge is dominant: every second respondent heard about the law but does not know any details (53%); 17% are well informed. A further 29% learned about the law for the first time during the survey.

Male respondents (78% vs 64% of women), persons with higher and incomplete higher education  (80%), residents of Moscow and St Petersburg (88% vs 60% of rural area residents) and active Internet users (77%) show higher levels of awareness.

Russians are likely to support assigning the “foreign agent” status to persons who receive foreign funding or carry out political activity in Russia. According to every second Russian, it is likely to be important to recognize such organizations or persons as “foreign agents” (54% in the group of those who are aware). A third of respondents have an alternative viewpoint and see no need in it (31%).

Those who favor applying the status of a “foreign agent” are older respondents – Russians aged 45+ (60% of the 45-59-year-olds; 58% of those aged 60+). Young Russians aged 25-34 have diverged opinions: 43% support and 43% oppose this law.

As to media, individuals and civil society organizations which were declared “foreign agents”, most of Russians mentioned “Dozhd”* (12%)*, “Echo of Moscow”* (11%) and “Meduza”* (11%). They are followed by Yury Dud* (10%), Aleksey Navalny* (9%), Yekaterina Shulman* (5%), Aleksey Pivovarov* (4%), Aleksey Venediktov* (3%), and Aleksandr Nevzorov* (3%). Many respondents did not know anyone who were labelled “foreign agents” (30%) or failed to give any answer (27%).

VCIOM-Sputnik Russian nationwide telephone survey was conducted June 17, 2022. A total of 1,600 Russians aged 18 and over took part in the survey. Survey method: telephone interviews using a stratified random sample based on a complete list of Russian mobile phone numbers. The data were weighted according to 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.

June 17, 2022 survey key effectiveness indicators: cooperation rate (COOP1)* = 0. 8238; minimum response rate (RR1)** = 0. 0233; response rate (RR3)*** = 0. 1399.

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

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

*** The number of complete interviews divided by the sum of: а) complete interviews, b) interrupted interviews after successful screening and c) all the telephone numbers with respect to the assessment of the percentage of eligible cases in the total number of cases of unknown eligibility.

*Media outlet or individual acting as a foreign agent.

**Extremist organization banned in Russia, having acted as a foreign agent.