Many European media outlets, following well-known politicians, experts and journalists, report on the polls, the results of which seem deplorable for Ukraine, the U.S. and EU. It appears that in spite of the powerful, and, once can say, fierce propaganda, many Europeans consider the criticism of Russia inadequate. Moreover, they believe that the actions of their own administration (that, unlike the Russian leader, has been losing ratings) are wrong, short-sighted and frankly dangerous.
A recent poll conducted by The Independent after the commencement of "the south-eastern and Crimean crises" showed that the majority of readers believe that the world political favorite is Vladimir Putin, while Obama and Merkel received only 2% and 4% of approval. And that comes after Vladimir Putin was recognized as the most influential politician of the world according to Forbes and a Person of the Year according to Time.
Former US Ambassador to the Soviet Union, Jack Matlock, a member of the "Prague Spring", former Czech President Klaus, and one of the world's best traders in a company of well-known foreign journalists and representatives of major centers of political science believe that Russia has been taking absolutely correct actions during the Ukrainian crisis, while the position of the United States is only hypocritical and inadmissible.
Thus, the world-famous Wall Street Journal published the data that the publication received from a leading think tank. They show that educated young people living in Germany believe that their country should not support NATO. Germany, they believe, should take at least a neutral position between Russia and the West. The poll also shows that the Germans do not support economic sanctions against Russia. To crown it all, many Germans are ready to recognize the Russian annexation of the Crimea, The Wall Street Journal wrote.
The UK residents, who participated in the mass poll conducted by Citizen.TV admitted that the image of Russia was "demonized by British and world media." In addition, they reproached the media for biased coverage of events in Ukraine and providing one-sided information about the events.
"The respondents were critical in their attitude to the news coverage of the Ukrainian crisis. The media portray Russia as the "bad guy." Some are concerned that Western governments supported the protesters, who overthrew the lawfully elected government. Nobody accused Vladimir Putin, Russia or Crimean residents of those riots that swept across Ukraine," Ceri Dingle, the Director of WORLDbytes said. He added that the comments from most of respondents should make most of Western news channels ashamed for producing the materials that were only meant to denounce and condemn Russia.
In contrast to world leaders, who continue to practice the criticism of Russia and threaten the country with sanctions, many European companies (including the British oil and gas giant) said they would work with the Russian Federation and that they could only care less about the sanctions, which would cause a lot more harm to the EU, rather than to Russia.