Nearly Half Polled Russians Think Pakistan Unfriendly

Nearly half, exactly 47% of 1,500 respondents in a recent poll carried out in Russia by the Public Opinion foundation believe Pakistan unfriendly. Just 22% believe otherwise.

In the meantime, Russia's citizens know very little about Pakistan. Just 17% of the respondents could correctly name Pakistan's capital city while 5% named Karachi, Kabul, Tehran, Baghdad, Istanbul, etc., 78% naming none. The majority (58%) of the respondents said their association with the name 'Pakistan' were negative, 18% did not care. Just 1% of all respondents sympathised with the country.

The said negative associations included war in the region (38%), terrorism (10%), aggression (3%), nuclear weapons and illegal drugs (2%), and poverty (1%).

As to the Indo-Pakistani conflict, 2% of the respondents sympathised with Pakistan, 40% - with India, and 22% said thei did not care.