Most of world doesn’t like Putin’s Russia

Russia’s war against Ukraine has damaged the international image of Russia, as well as that of its leader, President Vladimir Putin, according to a new Pew Research Center survey released on Aug. 5.

Pew found only 30 percent of those surveyed in 39 countries around the world see Russia positively. And only 24 percent of people in the world have confidence that Putin is doing the right thing in world affairs.

The fall in approval of Russia and Ukraine has occurred since Russia’s annexation of the Ukrainian territory of Crimea in March 2014 and its military interventions in eastern Ukraine since April 2014. In a similar poll carried out in 2013, on the eve of the G20 summit, 36 percent of respondents saw Russia positively, and 39 percent negatively

Russian officials, however, see different reasons behind the fall in Russia’s international approval.

The first deputy chairman of the Duma Committee on International Affairs, Leonid Kalashnikov, said in response to the release of the poll figures that "the negative opinions about Russia in the West are largely due to a difference in values. The Russian Federation has been criticized for having an attitude different to the Western one toward sexual minorities. In the Middle East, many are dissatisfied with (Russia’s) principled position on Syria."

There were big falls in public approval of Russia in both Europe and the United States.

Russia is perceived negatively by 80 percent of Poles, 72 percent of Ukrainians, 70 percent of German and French citizens, and 69 percent of Italians. In 2013 some 54 percent of Poles viewed Russia negatively, along with 56 percent of Italians, and 60 percent of Germans.

In the United States, 67 percent of citizens disapprove of Russia, up from 43 percent in 2013.

Approval of Russia was lowest in Pakistan, with 12 percent, and highest in Vietnam, with 75 percent.

While Russia’s image in the countries Pew surveyed was generally bad, that of its leader, Putin, was even worse. However, Pew’s Director of Global Economic Attitudes, Bruce Stokes, said disapproval of Putin, although dropping, would probably bottom out.

“Opinions of Putin are quite low, and overall it’s hard to see them dropping further in many nations,” Stokes told the Kyiv Post.

He said there is always a core group of people who support an unpopular leader or country. For example, the image of the United States fell considerably after its invasion of Iraq, but approval ratings for country never dropped to zero.

All the same, the recent trends in Putin’s and Russia’s international approval rating suggest the trend is still downward.

“Our survey data don’t tell us what development would change the world’s view of Putin or Russia. However, invading Ukraine hurt Russia’s image badly in the United States, Germany and China, among other countries,” Stokes said. He said if Russia refrains from taking military actions in neighboring countries there might not be a further deterioration in Russia’s image around the world.

While Russia’s image has become tarnished in several important countries, it is still viewed positively in Vietnam, China, and Ghana.

Meanwhile confidence in President Putin lags behind that of Russia as a whole practically all over the globe, and is much less than confidence in U.S. President Barack Obama.

In the 39 countries studied by Pew, confidence in Putin averaged just 24 percent. Fifty-four percent had no confidence in him.

Confidence in Putin was lowest in Europe – just 15 percent there thought Putin would do the right thing in world affairs, while the figure for Obama was 75 percent. In the Asia/Pacific region Putin had a confidence rating of 29 percent, compared to Obama’s 69 percent, and even in the Middle East, where disapproval of the United States is generally high, Putin still trailed Obama – at 25 percent, compared to Obama’s 36 percent.

Confidence in Putin was lowest in Spain, at only 6 percent, and highest in Vietnam, at 70 percent.

Kyiv Post