Russia's Enemies

Charles Paul Freund | June 21, 2005

In a recent Russian opinion poll, 1600 adults were asked what countries they regarded as Russia's greatest enemies and closest friends. The results, according to Novosti commentator Vladimir Simonov, were "a bombshell."

In the opinion of respondents, Russia's biggest enemies are Latvia (49 percent), Lithuania (42 percent), Georgia (38 percent) and Estonia (32 percent). Its friends include Belarus (46 percent), Germany (23 percent), Kazakhstan (20 percent), India (16 percent), and France (13 percent). Where's the U.S.? For a change, Russians seem to have no strong opinions about the U.S. one way or the other.

Simonov calls the U.S. "the archenemy of yesteryear," and he's not just evoking memories of the Cold War. The U.S. was perceived as Russia's enemy during the Clinton years, too. "In the 1990s," Simonov writes, "the Russia-U.S. relationship was largely determined by conflicts such as the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia and 'unscrupulous' U.S. diplomatic maneuvers around Kosovo." Although many people expected anti-American sentiment to increase in Russia, "public hostility to the U.S. has plummeted" instead.

Simonov notes that "there are no disagreements of this scale between the two countries." He also thinks that the frequent description of the U.S. as a "strategic partner" by the Putin regime has influenced popular perception. Simonov makes no mention of recent events in the Ukraine, where U.S. and Russian interests diverged sharply, but then the Ukraine doesn't make the list of Russian friends and enemies, either.

Simonov sees a list of "enemies" that pose no actual threat as an issue of "wounded pride." The Baltic counties, for example, treat their numerous ethnic Russian residents badly, in the view of many Russians.

"Russia is a country of wounded pride," writes Simonov. "As a result, [Russians] take out their bitterness on minor states whose authorities are trying, rudely and tactlessly, to kick Russia whenever they can. . . . This is how a new, toy-like image of the enemy is being born. Russia's enemies today are not a threat but petty bullies."

Comments

|6.21.05 @ 3:10PM|#

Simonov calls the U.S. "the archenemy of yesteryear,"

What a snub! I am outraged. From now on, Russia is no longer invited to my annual springtime Tupperware Party.

fyodor|6.21.05 @ 3:34PM|#

Things couldn't be too bad if your biggest enemy is Latvia.

|6.21.05 @ 3:57PM|#

Sounds sorta like us, at least before the war on terra, when our worst enemies were Cuba, Panama when Noriega was running it, that one week with Grenada, Libya, and Cuba.

|6.21.05 @ 4:10PM|#

In addition to Chechnya, the poll should have included "Islamist Terrorists," "Jews" and "Putin."

Then I'd believe it was a legitimate measure of Russion public opinion.

|6.21.05 @ 4:58PM|#

What about Putin? What about organized crime? what about loose-nucs? these are the real threats to Russians.

|6.21.05 @ 5:10PM|#

Things couldn't be too bad if your biggest enemy is Latvia.

Depends on how you like your chances, I guess. ;)

|6.21.05 @ 7:58PM|#

I'd be interested in a poll to see which countries the people of the United States think of as enemies.

...I wonder, where would Russia land on that list?

|6.21.05 @ 8:31PM|#

Ken, where do you think it would be? After the typical gathering of Muslim countries, France, NK and China, I'd expect Russia to be about 10th. Just playing along...

|6.21.05 @ 8:42PM|#

I'd bet that Russia would show up behind Saudi Arabia, realtively far down the list. I'm still not sure people think of France as an enemy--more like a pain in the ass girlfriend, I suspect.

...It would be interesting to see if people thought of China as more of a friend than Russia.

|6.21.05 @ 8:48PM|#

...It would be interesting to see if people thought of China as more of a friend than Russia.

I think I'd put China higher on the list of both friends and enemies

|6.21.05 @ 8:49PM|#

After Dubya confiscates the nukes from Iran, could he smuggle them to Latvia?

If so, what would the Recess Appointee, Bolton, say about that there?

In response to above posters: Here's my poll, if you'll pardon the expression, for all to see.
I LOVE EVERYBODY

|6.21.05 @ 9:43PM|#

...It would be interesting to see if people thought of China as more of a friend than Russia.

I'd be curious to see if that split along generational lines. I suspect younger people; Gen-Xer's and Gen-Yer's would be at least mildly pro China and Baby Boomers and Greatest Generationers leaning more towards foe.

|6.21.05 @ 11:11PM|#

Texas! I'm writing in "Texas."

|6.22.05 @ 3:12AM|#

I'm writing in "Vodka."

|6.22.05 @ 3:17AM|#

I LOVE EVERYBODY

OK, Ruthless, holster your love-gun before someone gets hurt.

|6.22.05 @ 8:51AM|#

Welcome to Easter Europe: "Where everyone there hates everybody else there".

|6.22.05 @ 9:23AM|#

My Latvian colleague is quite proud of this accomplishment.

BTW, is Easter Europe anything like the Vacation City in Rome?

|6.22.05 @ 9:46AM|#

A little surprised to see Chechnya off the list.

|6.22.05 @ 10:04AM|#

"A little surprised to see Chechnya off the list."

As noted by another poster above, Chechnya isn't a country, so the poll-takers presumably didn't ask about it.

|6.22.05 @ 11:29AM|#

Did they conduct this survey before or after they handed out the free vodka?

gaius marius|6.22.05 @ 11:59AM|#

i bet mexico would come in high on the american list. illegal immigrants imperil american virtue, et al.

|6.23.05 @ 1:03PM|#

I'm not realy certain that it's such a good sign that the states most Russians consider their enemies are precisely the ones that are so small that Russia might actually intervene militarily in them--as she has done in Georgia. If Russians considered the US their enemy that might not be so bad because even a Zhirinovsky would realize that Russia couldn't very well invade the US...