Poll: Russians are clearly looking to Europe

Leader of the Russian foundation "Public opinion" Alexander Oslon who took part in an experts and analyzers round table session called "Redirecting Russia towards Europe" and organized in RIA Novosti, said that data received as a result of public opinion polls show that Russians are "clearly looking to" Europe and not to the USA. According to him, in particular, 51 per cent of Russians "think better" of Europeans, 11 per cent of Americans, 20 per cent "equally good" and 5 per cent "equally bad" of both Europeans and Americans, 13 per cent "found difficulty" in answering this question. It's worth mentioning that among people with higher education the gap between those who like Europeans and those who like Americans is much greater - 61 per cent of them think better of Europeans and only 8 per cent - of Americans. When questioned whether Russia should aim at entering the European Union, 58 per cent of the polled gave a positive answer and only 19 per cent answered negatively, Oslon said. So, he concluded, now Russians aim at "redirecting towards Europe". In this connection Oslon said he hoped that Russians would support "The Russian president's steps in this direction".