Romanians remain cautious about Russian Federation – poll

Romanians remain cautious regarding the country’s relations with the Russian Federation, according to a study by Romanian pollster CSOP for the Center for the Prevention of Conflicts and Early Warning, quoted by news agency Agerpres.

The project is aimed at investigating how the Russian Federation is perceived within the Romania-Republic of Moldova-Ukraine triangle, according to a CPCEW press release issued as the study was lounched in Bucharest on Thursday.

According to CPCEW head Iulian Chifu, there were two waves of inquiries in April and in August. The main results of the CSOP poll show that the Russian Federation does not acquire half of the possible poll points based on the questions asked.

The perception of Romanians about:

• The EU – 73% favorable votes
• USA – 66% favorable votes
• Republic of Moldova – 55%
• Russia and Ukraine – 39%

Romanians are also reserved when it comes to people of the mentioned countries. 49% of Romanian respondents say they have a good opinion about Russians, while 82% have a generally good opinion about EU citizens.

And respondents show a lot more appreciation about EU investors coming to Romania than the coming of Russian business people.

Generally speaking, the relations between Romania and the Russian Federation are perceived rather negatively (44%), while 26% believe they are good and 30% of respondents would not answer in this regard.

Between April and August a worsening of Romanians’ perception on bilateral relations with Russia may be felt, with negative opinions increasing from 27% to 44% this summer, when a diplomatic scandal involving a Romanian in Moscow took place.

Other issues for which the Russian Federation was evaluated negatively by Romanians interviewed in the poll relate to Romania’s energy goals but also the deterioration of democracy in Russia and Moscow’s behaviour towards neighboring countries (stopping deliveries of gas to Ukraine”. 38% of Romanians also evaluate the Russian Federation negatively over the tragic plane accident in which the Polish President died earlier this year.

In an attempt to find possible explanations for the result, Romanian sociologist Dorel Sando, invited by organisers at the launch of the poll, says one reason might stand in the attention Romanians have been paying to the Western world (attractive jobs in Spain, France and Italy, among others), although, he says good jobs might also be found in the East.