Press releases

10 Dec 2015

Russians view Belarus as most reliable partner of Russia

MOSCOW, 10 December (BelTA) - Russians view Belarus as the most reliable partner of Russia and the most successful country in the CIS. These are the results of the poll conducted by the All-Russian Public Opinion Research Center (VTsIOM), BelTA learned.

According to VTsIOM, 72% of Russians named Belarus as the most successful nation in the CIS in 2015. Kazakhstan is second with 50% of the vote. Last year the answers to this question were as follows: 66% and 45% of the respondents polled by VTsIOM.

Other post-Soviet states get a rare mention. "Ukraine is an exception. After leaving the top three in 2014, the country was unable to regain its position this year (only 1% of respondents considered it the most successful country in the CIS),” VTsIOM said. From 2010 to 2013 almost one-fifth of Russians (from 17% to 21%) called Ukraine the most successful country. In 2014 only 2% of respondents gave such an answer. This year it is only 1%. This year one in ten Russians mentioned Armenia as the most successful country (11%) and Azerbaijan (10%). Georgia scored 6% of the vote, Kyrgyzstan 4%), Turkmenistan 3% and Uzbekistan 3%. Moldova and Tajikistan gained 1% each.

When asked to name Russia's most reliable partners, 68% of the respondents said it was Belarus (65% last year) and 53% named Kazakhstan (46% last year). They are followed by Armenia (10%), Kyrgyzstan (7%), Azerbaijan (5%), Uzbekistan (3%), Georgia (3%), Moldova (1%), Turkmenistan (1%), Tajikistan (1%), and Ukraine (less than 1%).

Alexander Lukashenko leads the CIS rating of confidence in political leaders with 63% of the vote. Kazakhstan President Nursultan Nazarbayev scored 45%. Other heads of state of the CIS gained less than one tenth of the vote.

Russians believe the rights of the Russian-speaking population are best protected in Belarus (69%) and Kazakhstan (32%). The top two are followed by Armenia (6%), Kyrgyzstan (3%), Azerbaijan (3%), Moldova, Uzbekistan, Georgia (2% each), Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Ukraine (1% each).

The All-Russian Public Opinion Research Center held the poll on 22-23 November. The pollster interviewed 1,600 people in 46 regions of Russia. The margin of error does not exceed 3.5%.