Great-power sentiment in Russia reached a historic high

Moscow / 21.12.17 / Turan: The number of Russians who are confident that the Russian people has a special significance in world history has reached a maximum for all time of research - 64% of respondents think so, Levada Center found out.

32% agree that Russians are the same people as others.

In 1992, only 13% of the respondents spoke of the special role of Russians in world history. The maximum was also reached by the number of respondents who believe that Russia is a great power, 72% of Russians think so (64% a year ago).

They are proud of the fact that 83% of respondents live in Russia, and 67% are proud of the country.

Such results are "the echo of the post-Crimean mobilization," although in many respects the active phase of "fighting enemies" has passed, says sociologist of the Levada Center Karina Pipia. According to her, the growth of great-power sentiments can be seen as a reaction to the "unfair", "anti-Russian" policies of Western countries, which consolidates public opinion around enemies for the past three years.

Great-power moods do not disappear, since these sentiments have been accumulating for a long time - since the mid-1990s, political analyst Alexei Makarkin notes: "After the collapse of the Soviet Union, many people believed that this was temporary, but suddenly it turned out that none of the countries was going to" return ". This overlapped the decline in Russia's international role, the economic crisis, a sense of uncertainty in the future. All this was compensated by dreams of a great future. After the Crimea, these feelings were fixed. Even in case of growth of protest moods and claims to the authorities, the imperial mood will persist, the expert believes. -02D-