Many Russians turn back on the West

Another poll conducted by Levada Center showed that only 14 percent of Russians consider themselves as carriers of Western culture. At the same time, 24 percent of the polled Russians believe in friendship with the West.

Russia still needs democracy, but "a special kind of democracy that would correspond to national traditions and specific character of the country," researchers concluded as a result of the poll. Sixty-two percent of the polled said that Russia needs democracy. Fifty-five percent advocate national peculiarities of democracy (34 percent a year ago).

The poll also revealed that many Russians show an ambiguous attitude to the Western type of democracy. Thirty-nine percent of respondents believe that the Western type of democracy suits Russia too, if national peculiarities are accounted for as well. Firty-five percent said that Western democracy is destructive for Russia.

"Most people believe that Russia already has a democracy, or, at least, needs her way - neither Western, nor Soviet one," deputy director of Levada Center, Alexei Grazhdankin said. The conflict with the West changed the attitude of many Russians to the West. Today, only 24 percent of Russians believe that relations between Russia and the West can be friendly, whereas 64 percent believe that they will always be based on distrust.

Forty-three percent of the polled do not consider themselves individuals of Western culture. For 37 percent, Western culture is unimportant. Forty-two percent of the polled said that they were opposed to the Western way of life (34 percent treat Western lifestyle positively.