Opinions & Interviews

Russians call Belarus most reliable partner in post-Soviet space

MOSCOW, 4 December (BelTA) – An opinion poll conducted by the Russia Public Opinion Research Center in the run-up to the CIS Summit in Ashgabat has revealed that Russians consider Belarus the most reliable and stable partner in the post-Soviet space, BelTA has learnt.

46% of those polled called Belarus the most reliable partner of Russia on the international arena. Belarus was followed by Kazakhstan (38%). “Over the last five years Russians have called Minsk and Astana the most reliable partners in the CIS,” the research center informed. This year the third position was taken by Ukraine (17%). The remaining CIS member states are far behind the top three: Armenia got 5%, Kyrgyzstan and Azerbaijan 4%, Uzbekistan 3%, Moldova, Turkmenistan, and Tajikistan 2% each. Georgia was voted the least reliable partner among the former USSR republics (1%).

The respondents answered in the similar way when asked about leaders of the CIS member states: President of the Republic of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko enjoys the greatest trust (34%), President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev came second (31%). They are followed by President of Ukraine Viktor Yanukovych (12%), President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev (5%), President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan and President of Kyrgyzstan Almazbek Atambayev (3% each), President of Uzbekistan Islam Karimov, President of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov, and President of Tajikistan Emomali Rahmon (2% each). President of Moldova Nikolae Timofti and President of Georgia Mikhail Saakashvili had the lowest ranking.

Belarus leads the ranking of the most stable and successful CIS states with 45% of the votes. 33% of those polled gave their votes to Kazakhstan; Ukraine came third with 19% of the votes. They are followed by Armenia (7%), Azerbaijan (6%), Georgia (5%), Turkmenistan (4%), Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, and Uzbekistan (3% each) and Tajikistan (1%).

The respondents also called Belarus a country with the most successful modernization efforts (30%) with Kazakhstan second (23%) and Ukraine third (14%). The remaining CIS states did not score more than 5% of the votes.

The poll was conducted on 24-25 November. The pollsters asked 1,600 people in 138 settlements in 46 regions of Russia. The statistical error is under 3.4%.

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