Almost a third of Russians now view the United States favorably, about double the share from before United States President Donald Trump took office in January, according to a Levada Center surveyreleased Thursday.Positive attitudes toward the United States had plunged to 12% in May 2023 the lowest level since Levada began tracking sentiments in 1997.
Attitudes have remained significantly low following Russias full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.The latest survey, conducted in late February among 1,615 respondents across 50 Russian regions, found that 30% of Russian adults now have a positive view of the United States , up from 16% in September.
Meanwhile, negative views of the United States have fallen sharply from 72% in September to 51%.The share of respondents who were unsure also rose from 13% to 20% over the same period.Since Trump took office in January and pledged to broker a swift end to the war in Ukraine, Russian state media have increasingly portrayed him as a pragmatic leader open to engagement with Moscow.
However, reports suggest the Kremlin has quietly instructed media outlets to scale back their positive coverage of Trump.Historically, Russian attitudes toward the United States have fluctuated in response to global events.In 2008, after the Russo-Georgian war, United States favorability among Russians plummeted as the Bush administration condemned Moscows actions and sent humanitarian aid to Georgia.
However, positive sentimentlater rebounded, peaking at 63% three years later, according to Levada.A similar decline followed the 2014 annexation of Crimea and Russias support of separatists in eastern Ukraine, after which the United States imposed sanctions against Russia.The largest post-annexation surge in positive sentiment toward the United States came in the summer of 2018 after the Helsinki Summit, where Trump publicly sided with President Vladimir Putin over United States intelligence agencies on alleged election interference.A Message from The Moscow Times:Dear readers,We are facing unprecedented challenges.
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