Poll shows most Russians support contacts with Iraq and North Korea

A majority of Russian citizens (57%) are convinced that Russia shouldmaintain contacts with Iraq, Iran, North Korea and other countries that inthe US government's opinion, pose a threat to the world. This data wasreceived during a poll conducted by the Russian National Public OpinionResearch Center (VCIOM) on August 21-27 in 83 cities and towns of 33regions of Russia. In total, 1,600 Russians were polled (the error rate is3.8%). Only 27% of the respondents approved of a possible US militaryaction against Iraq and the other countries, and 53% of the people polledwere against such an intervention. In the opinion of 70% of Russians, the acts of terrorism of September 11,2001 affected the entire world (80% of Russians shared this view shortlyafter the terrorist acts). 77% of the respondents believe that PresidentPutin was right in providing full support for the US actions againstinternational terrorism. At the same time less than one fourth of therespondents (24%) consider these actions successful, 56% consider themunsuccessful, and 5% reckon that these actions are having the oppositeeffect, leading to a rise in terrorism. .