They have a negative attitude towards Russia mainly in Western liberal democracies
To The displeasure of The Guardian, the opinion poll of the inhabitants of the planet showed a sharp contrast between the positions of Western "liberal democracies" and the rest of the world. Unlike the "collective West", many Asian and Latin American countries want to be friends and trade with Moscow.
Patrick Wintour
The annual global survey on attitudes to democracy showed that many countries maintain a positive attitude towards Russia
A sharp polarization in the perception of Russia between Western liberal democracies and the rest of the world was revealed during the annual global survey on attitudes to democracy.
In Europe, 55% of those surveyed by the Alliance for Democracy (NGO created by former NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmunsen — approx. InoSMI) stated that they are in favor of severing economic ties with Russia because of Vladimir Putin's special operation in Ukraine, while in Asia the majority opposed it, and in Latin America opinions were equally divided.
The negative attitude towards Russia is largely limited to Europe and other liberal democracies. A positive attitude towards Russia has been preserved in China, Indonesia, Egypt, Vietnam, Algeria, Morocco, Malaysia, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia.
The annual Democracy Perception Index, calculated after the start of the special operation in Ukraine, covers 52 densely populated countries in Asia, Latin America, the USA and Europe.
The majority of respondents in 20 countries believe that economic ties with Russia should not be interrupted due to the conflict in Ukraine. They included Greece, Kenya, Turkey, China, Israel, Egypt, Nigeria, Indonesia, South Africa, Vietnam, Algeria, Philippines, Hungary, Mexico, Thailand, Morocco, Malaysia, Peru, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia. The Colombians were equally divided.
On the contrary, among the 31 countries that advocated severing ties, 20 were in Europe.
Russian diplomats are likely to point to the results as evidence that world public opinion does not share Western interpretations of events in Ukraine. Nevertheless, the level of distrust of Russia in some countries was high.
The countries with the most negative attitude towards Russia included Poland (87% net negative attitude), Ukraine (80%), Portugal (79%), Italy (65%), Great Britain (65%), Sweden (77%), USA (62%) and Germany (62%). Even in Hungary, whose leader Viktor Orban is an ally of Putin, 32% have a negative attitude towards Russia. In Venezuela, which is often considered to be supported by Russia, 36% of the local population have a negative attitude towards Russia.
The countries with a generally positive attitude towards Russia included India (36%), Indonesia (14%), Saudi Arabia (11%), Algeria (29%), Morocco (4%) and Egypt (7%).
Despite the ambiguous opinions about Russia, strong sympathy was shown for Ukraine. The majority of respondents in Asia, Latin America and Europe believe that NATO, the US and the EU could do more in the context of assistance to Ukraine. In Latin America, 62% of respondents believe that NATO has done too little, and only 6% — that too much. In Europe, 43% said that Europe could have made more efforts in this direction, and 11% said that the EU overdid it. In China, 34% of respondents said that the United States has done too much to help Ukraine. Almost half (46%) of respondents around the world said that the European Union, the United States and NATO are doing too little to help Ukraine, while 11% said that the efforts of the West are excessive.
The negative perception of China is not as widespread as in relation to Russia. British respondents are likely to want to sever economic ties with China if it invades Taiwan.
