Poll: Russians Increasingly Disillusioned with Western Values | Farsnews Agency

The number of Russians who believe Western values to be beneficial to the country has fallen drastically in the last 20 years, according to a poll conducted earlier this month by the Russian Public Opinion Research Center (VCIOM) and published on Tuesday.
“The West is not only a culture, but a whole system of socio-political and economic patterns and models,” wrote the pollsters, noting that while Russian society largely looked to the West in the 1990s, it has since changed its attitude towards Western values, RT reported.

Back in 2000, only 10% of respondents felt that Western democracy and civilization were “harmful for Russians”, according to the poll. Now, however, that number has risen to 26%.

Another 33% said that Western civilization and culture were “unsuitable for Russia”, up from 25% in 2000, while over half of those polled, or some 59%, said they didn’t see any benefits to the Western model.

It was also noted that in the past 22 years, the share of people in Russia who hold a positive view of Western values has declined from 55% to 30%.

“The Western world has ceased to suit Russians as a source of reference points and development vectors. This opinion divides society into two groups,” stated VCIOM.