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On-going series: Crisis in the Caucasus - 2008 The Russian / Georgian Conflict and Its Impact on Azerbaijan Window on Eurasia: Original Blog Article Vienna, September 25 Russians overwhelmingly approve Moscow's military intervention in Georgia and its tougher line toward the West, but are less certain that Russia has gained rather than lost by recognizing Abkhazia and South Ossetia, and are unwilling to write a blank check for the reconstruction and future development of those two republics. Two polls whose results were released this week one by the All-Russian Center for the Study of Public Opinion (VTsIOM) which is close to the Kremlin and the other by the respected Levada Center suggest Russians are paying close attention to what is happening in Georgia and have a more varied view about what Moscow is doing than some media coverage has suggested. And while the Kremlin is far less constrained by popular attitudes than are governments in more democratic countries, the attitudes these polls show will both help define the way in which Moscow explains what it is doing there and, by structuring discussions in the Russian capital, have an impact on the regime's next steps. According to the VTsIOM poll,
Russians overwhelmingly approve the signing of the friendship
treaties between Russia and the republics of South Ossetia and
Abkhazia, with 87 percent giving a favorable assessment of that
action and only seven percent opposed to that action. But while just over half (55 percent) of the Russians sampled told VTsIOM that they favored providing reconstruction aid to the two republics, a similar number made it clear that this should be a temporary measure rather than the start of a long-term and massive transfer of funds abroad. That finding appears to reflect the attitudes behind an anecdote reported to be widely circulating in the Russian Federation just now. According to it, leaders of Russian regions are lining up to ask Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili to bomb them so that they, like the South Ossetians, can get more money out of Moscow. The Levada Center poll provides
some additional details. Asked whether Russia's recognition of
Abkhazia and South Ossetia had benefited Russia, 40 percent of
its sample said that Moscow's decision to do so had, while 15
percent said it had harmed Russian interests and 28 percent said
it had not helped or hurt. The opinions reflected in
these two polls suggest that Moscow can count on popular support
for bases in South Ossetia and Abkhazia and for a limited assistance
but that it will face popular opposition if it sends too much
money south or moves too quickly to absorb these two largely
unrecognized republics into the Russian Federation. AI Home Page | Magazine Choice | Topics | Store | Contact us |
