Russians' attitude towards USA gets worse after Iraqi war

The attitude of Russians towards the USA has worsened considerably at all levels after the military operation in Iraq, Alexey Arbatov, the deputy head of the State Duma Defense Committee, declared at a session of the World Economic Forum. He noted that even the parliament did not fully share the government's priorities concerning the maintenance of friendly ties with the USA.

He referred to some opinion poll that had found that 80 percent of Russians were indignant with the US military operation in Iraq, while only 6 percent were angry at the similar operation in Afghanistan. Some 52 percent of the respondents felt threatened by the USA and about 39 percent believed that Russia would be the next state the USA would direct its aggression towards.

Arbatov also stated that the USA should not be concerned with Russia's relations with a number of Western European countries (France and Germany, in particular) that opposed the USA, because it testified to the fact that Russia preferred western democracies in its foreign policy rather than Iran and North Korea.