74% of Russians oppose sending peacekeepers to Iraq

Three-fourths (74%) of Russians oppose sending Russian troops to Iraq, a poll conducted by Romir Monitoring in May has found. Twenty-one percent of the respondents in the representative nationwide sample favored sending Russian troops to Iraq. Four percent of those queried chose not to answer the question.

By contrast, when the same organization polled the country in July 2003 and asked: 'Should Russia send peacekeepers to Iraq?' 33% of respondents answered affirmatively (16% citing Russia's national interests, 15% if Russia were called on to do so by the United Nations and 2% if Russia were called on to do so by the United States). At that time, 61% of those interviewed opposed sending Russian peacekeepers 'under any circumstances,' and 6% chose not to answer.

The sample was made up of 1,600 respondents.