Russians say Georgia the most unfriendly country - poll

PanARMENIAN.Net - Russians consider Georgia the most hostile towards Russia, a poll run by Russia's largest independent pollster Levada Center has revealed, RIA Novosti reported.

To measure public sentiments in Russia, experts with the center asked respondents to name countries whose policies, in their view, are the most friendly and unfriendly towards Russia.

Last year, one half of those who took part in a similar poll by Levada center called Georgia the most hostile country, this year the number has dropped slightly: only 41 percent of the respondents named Georgia.

Next is the United States with 35 percent saying the country is acting unfriendly towards Russia.

Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia were among the countries that respondents also frequently called hostile.

Respondents most frequently called Belarus (34 percent), Kazakhstan (28 percent) and Germany (17 percent) friends of Russia.

More than half of those polled (54 percent) said that their personal attitude towards the United States is positive, and 64 percent spoke of their positive perception of the European Union.

The survey was held on February 25-29 with the participation of 1,600 people from 130 residential areas.