Most Russians No Longer See US as Enemy Nation: Poll
The poll by the independent Levada Center found 40 percent of respondents agreed that the U.S. was the most hostile nation towards Russia, down from 76 percent in 2024.
Aleksei Miniailo, an independent Russian sociologist who founded a separate polling group called Chronicles, told Newsweek Monday that the Levada figures show how fragile the effect of anti-U.S. propaganda in Russia actually is.
Newsweek has contacted the Kremlin for comment.
The Kremlin and its propagandists have framed Vladimir Putin's full-scale invasion of Ukraine as a proxy war with the West, regularly issuing nuclear threats towards Kyiv's allies.
However the Levada center polling shows shows that this antipathy towards the U.S. is not shared by most Russians, which could be a backdrop to a thawing of ties between the countries since President Donald Trump came into office.
The Levada Center asked 1,613 Russian adults between May 22 and May 28 about their attitudes to different countries in a poll with a margin of error no greater than 3.4 percent.
The share of respondents who named the U.S. as the most hostile country towards Russia was 40 percent-down from 76 percent in 2024.
This dip saw the U.S. drop from first to fourth on the list of hostile countries for the first time in two decades and was behind Germany (55 percent), the U.K. (49 percent) and Ukraine (43 percent), against which Moscow has been waging war since 2022.
Levada said that attitudes toward the U.S. continue to improve amid the Trump administration's peace-making efforts.
It found over one third (37 percent) of respondents had a positive attitude toward the U.S, 21 percentage points since September 2024. Less than half (47 percent) had a negative attitude, down by 25 percentage points in the same time frame.
The survey found that the most positive attitude towards the U.S. came from those under 24 years old (49 percent), Muscovites (42 percent), and those who had visited other European countries.
The groups with the most negative attitude toward the United States were respondents aged 40-54 (52 percent) and those who have never been to European countries (49 percent).
Meanwhile respondents named Belarus (80 percent), China (64 percent), Kazakhstan (36 percent), India (32 percent) and North Korea (30 percent) as Russia's "closest friends and allies."
Miniailo, a Russian opposition politician from the research group Chronicles, said the Levada findings show that propaganda against the West had a strong effect but this can fade very quickly when it comes up against pro-U.S. information flows, such as from Hollywood films.
He said the key factor is whether Kremlin opinion, stated by propaganda outlets is contested widely, which is why an anti-war position is criminally pursued in Russia.
"However, it's hardly possible to criminalize watching Hollywood movies, so the propaganda discourse is challenged by soft power," he added, noting that Chronicles' own polling in 2024 found that Russians wanted to see relations with the West restored, despite Kremlin messaging.
Levada Center: "The most hostile countries for Russians are Germany, the U.K., Ukraine, the United States and Poland; For the first time in 20 years of measurements, the U.S. dropped from first place to fourth place on this list."
Aleksei Miniailo, Russian opposition politician and sociologist: "This figure shows how fragile the effect of propaganda actually is...its effects decay very fast."
Russian media continue to disparage Ukraine's Western allies for their support of Kyiv against Russian aggression. The Levada polling suggests that fewer people are listening to this messaging, as the Trump administration continues to push for negotiations to end the Ukraine war.
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Maria Siora, 11 Killed in a Russian missile strike on Kyiv on June 23 Dmytro Bezverkhyi, 5 Killed in a Russian drone strike in Sumy on June 24 Lev Lamekhov, 2 Killed in a Russian ballistic missile strike on an apartment building in Kyiv on July 31 Roman Hayovyi, 17 Killed in a Russian ballistic missile strike on an apartment building in Kyiv on July 31 Roman, Tamara and Stanislav Martyniuk, 17, 12 and 8 Killed by a Russian missile in the Zhytomyr region on May 25 CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: The grave in Korostyshiv of three siblings of the Martyniuk family: Roman, 17; Tamara, 12; and Stanislav, 8, who were killed in a Russian missile attack on May 25. Olena Martyniuk, 48, and Ihor Martyniuk, 55, hold portraits of their children in their home in Korostyshiv on June 27. Family and community members mourn the children during a farewell ceremony on May 28. People wait in line to say goodbye to the children during the farewell ceremony. 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Staying busy was how Oleksandr was coping with this new world, the one where his childhood home no longer existed, his parents were wounded, and three of his four siblings were dead. Dusk was settling in. He quickly changed his clothes, showered and rushed to the church, where hundreds of mourners came to pay their respects. His mother was too unwell to attend her three children's funeral. Instead, it was Oleksandr who stood by his father, clutching his shoulders as hundreds of people lined up to pay their respects to the three coffins in the tiny church. Two were for Tamara and Stanislav, the youngest children, who had been studying traditional Ukrainian music at a nearby school. And one was for Roman, who was due to finish high school in weeks. That night, a teacher laid his graduation sash across his coffin. Oksana Parafeniuk and Serhiy Morgunov contributed to this report.
