Russians Continue to View Germans in Positive Light

'The attitude of Russian people towards Germany is unlikely to improve in the near future because it is already good and quite stable,' said Mikhail Gorshkov, the director of the Institute for Complex Social Research of the Russian Academy of Sciences, yesterday at the Rosbalt news agency during the presentation of an analytical paper on 'Europe and Germany through Russian Eyes'.

According to the results of the research, over the last six years 68-69% of Russians have held a positive attitude towards Germany and, taking into account the low level of interaction between the two countries and the general poverty of the Russian population, this figure is unlikely to change much. Interestingly, although Russian people over 60 are cooler in their attitude towards Germany, the general trend of positive feelings is followed.

Gorshkov noted that 64.6% of those questioned suggested that Russian-German relations would continue to develop well in the future, and only 21.6% did not share this opinion. The greatest optimism over the prospects for bilateral relations in the longer term was found amongst well-off families (71.3%). Among families living on the poverty line this figure fell to 53.8%.

The Institute for Complex Social Research carried out its poll in June-July 2002 with financial support from the Friedrich Ebert Foundation. 1750 Russians from 11 social groups, who were selected on a quota basis, took part in the poll.