US likeliest enemy of Russia, according to residents of Moscow and St. Petersburg

Russia's most probable enemy is the United States of America, according to residents of Moscow and St. Petersburg. The results were obtained by the Independent Analytical Center during the course of telephone interviews in May.

According to poll results, 43% of respondents named the US as Russia's most important foe. In all, 47% of those asked considered the West and the NATO countries to be Russia's principal enemies. The 'next most probable enemy' in the view of Moscow and St. Petersburg residents was China. Thirteen percent of respondents named that country in particular, while 15% named the countries of the East and Southwest Asia in general. Slightly fewer, or 13%, named the countries of the 'Islamic world' as Russia's main opponents.

In was notable that 3% of the residents of both capitals considered 'former friends' as potential enemies - former socialist nations or republics of the USSR. First among them were the Baltic countries of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, with 1.3%, and next were Georgia and Ukraine, with 1% respectively.

Only 4% of respondents named the countries of Western Europe that were not former Russian allies to be potential enemies. Of those, the most frequently named country was Great Britain, at 1.9%, while Germany was named by only 0.4%.

The telephone polling was conducted by the Independent Analytical Center May 6-7, 2004, by random selection. In all, 1,553 people were questioned -- 960 in Moscow and 593 in St. Petersburg.