CZECH-RUSSIAN RELATIONS

20.6.2016 | Czech general public perceives Putin’s Russia rather as an untrustworthy partner. The opinions on Czech-Russian relations are mostly positive, yet the sanctions imposed on Russia by the EU have support from the public. A mission of Czech troops that would assist the NATO alliance in Poland and the Baltics in case these were attacked would be supported by a higher share of people than the share in opposition to this move.

From 14th May to 25th May 2016, Focus Agency carried out an omnibus survey of public opinion on the adult population of the Czech Republic. The representative sample was formed by 1000 respondents aged 18 or more who were selected through quota selection based on their gender, age, attained education, domicile size and region. The aim of this survey was to map the Czech-Russian relations and the attitude of the Czech general public towards Russia. This survey was inspired by a more thorough survey of German-Russian relations published by the Bertelsmann Foundation and Polish Institute of Public Affairs (Instytut Spraw Publicznych).

INTERNATIONAL TRUSTWORTHINESS OF RUSSIA

In the Czech population, there is rather a prevalent mistrust towards Russia led by President Putin. For 45 % of the respondents, Russia is not a trustworthy partner; on the other hand, 33 % consider Russia to be an internationally trusted partner. 23 % did not choose either of these options. Mistrust is more often expressed by younger respondents and by potential voters for TOP 09 (Conservatives) and ODS (Civic Democrats).

THE STATE OF CZECH-RUSSIAN RELATIONS

The prevalent opinion of the Czech public on Czech-Russian relations is positive. The current state of mutual relations was rated as good by almost one half of the respondents, and by 28 % as poor. The relations are more frequently viewed as positive by the voters for CSSD (Social Democrats) and KSCM (Communist Party)

<!-- [if gte mso 9]> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Prio