Russian anxiety about terrorist threat is declining.

MOSCOW, September 3, 2019. Russian Public Opinion Research Center (VCIOM) presents the findings of a survey devoted to Day of Solidarity in the Fight against Terrorism.

Over the recent eight years the share of Russians who consider that the levels of global terrorist threat have declined has grown up from 14% in 2011 to 38% in 2019; simultaneously the number of those who oppose this opinion has decreased (37% in 2010; 34% in 2011; 30% in 2019). However the share of those who consider that the terrorist threat has considerably strengthened has increased from 9% in 2011 to 15% in 2019.

More than one-third of Russians say that the terrorist threat has weakened globally (38%). Those who say that the threat has weakened are mainly men (21%). Thirty percent say the threat has strengthened; 22% say the threat is the same.

Every second respondent is confident that terrorist attacks against Russian citizens are hardly possible (53%). This stance is mainly shared by those aged 18-24 (61%). Of 32% of Russians who believe that terrorist attacks against Russian citizens are possible, only 3% are strongly confident.

As to the sources of terrorist threats, 15% of Russians point to the U.S.A.; every tenth (11%) mentions ISIL (organization banned in Russia). Eight percent also name Islamic groups; the same number of respondents point to Ukrainian nationalists; 7%, terrorist organizations. At the same time, almost every tenth Russian (8%) does not see any terrorist threat to the Russian citizens.

Russians are confident that the Russian government is capable of protecting the Russian citizens against any possible terrorist attacks: the confidence index* gained 64 point in 2019.

*Index shows respondent subjective assessments of the authorities’ capabilities to protect the population against new terror attacks. The indicator is calculated as a difference of positive and negative answers to the question “In your opinion, are the 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 is.

VCIOM-Sputnik survey was conducted on August 31, 2019. The survey involved 1,600 Russians aged 18 and over. The survey was telephone-based and carried out using stratified dual-frame random sample based on a complete list of landline and mobile phone numbers operating in Russia. The data were weighted according to selection probability and 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 in question wording and different circumstances arising during the fieldwork can introduce bias into the survey.