Russians are less interested in the Syrian conflict.

MOSCOW, October 17, 2016.  Russian Public Opinion Research Centre (VCIOM) presents the data of the survey describing the Russian attitudes towards the situation in Syria.

Two-thirds of Russians are keeping track of the conflict in Syria (67%); one-fifth of Russians in this share (21%) follow the updates regularly. As early as two months ago, fewer Russians did it: in July this year 40% of Russians reported not to be interested in what was happening in the Middle East; currently this share makes up only 32%. However, two years ago when Russia sent air force to this region, the public attention to this conflict was almost equal to today’s: 68% say they are keeping track of the situation; 31% - not. 

According to 51% of respondents, there is an ongoing war in the Middle East; asked an open-ended question without prompting, 10% say that the situation is an “upheaval”; 6% think it is a combat against terrorism and the ISIL banned in Russia; 4% mention U.S. involvement.

Every third points out an aggravation of the situation in Syria (34%). Almost the same percentage (33%) thinks that the situation is getting neither better nor worse. Fifteen percent say that the situation is normalizing. In March this year, the share of those who thought so was 48%.

Most of Russians (73%) consider that the criticism over the operations of the Russian military in Aleppo is not well-founded (an attempt to weaken Russia, to put pressure on Russia). Six percent oppose this point of view; they are mainly young respondents aged 18 - 24 (13%) rather than those who are older (4% among those age 35-60 and over).  

Asked about Russia’s involvement in the Syrian conflict, one–third of respondents support the current policy of the Russian authorities (32%). Every fifth (21%) says Russia should slow down or take a more conservative approach. The share of those who think that Russia should withdraw (14%) and those who advocate for its active involvement (16%) are almost equal. Remarkably, the percentage of the latter (35%) is bigger among those who keep track of the situation in the Middle East regularly.   

More than half of Russians (53%) fail to specify what consequences the Russian operations may lead to. Twenty-seven percent point out negative consequences including a possible war with the U.S.A. and tense relations with the Western countries. Every tenth (11%) believes that consequences might be positive, in particular, Russia may strengthen its influence in the world and improve its military capabilities.

VCIOM survey was conducted on October 8-9, 2016, in 130 settlements, 46 regions and 9 federal districts of Russia. Sample size was 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. Apart from the margin of error, minor changes in question wording and different circumstances arising during the field work should be taken into account.

Note: Using materials from the site 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!