VCIOM: 40% of Russians approve of economic blockade of Georgia

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A third of Russian citizens believe that arrests of Russian officers under the accusation of their being Russian spies were staged to incite Russia’s forceful action and accuse her of interfering into Georgia’s internal affairs. The statistics are results of a poll conducted by VCIOM (All-Russian Public Opinion Research Center) Oct 7-8 in 46 regions of Russia.

18% of respondents believe that the action of official Tbilisi was targeted at creating a pretext for withdrawal from Georgia of all Russian armed forces, including the peacekeeping contingent in Abkhazia and South Ossetia. 6% suppose that the arrests were staged to spur military action in Abkhazia and South Ossetia.

14% of the respondents pointed to the action’s being connected to the official Tbilisi’s foreign policy – i.e., its striving to make overtures before the US and NATO. 12% accentuate the domestic Georgian situation and Tbilisi’s attempts to distract Georgian citizens’ attention before elections of regional municipal self-governments. 6% of the respondents chose to explicate the policy of Mikhail Saakashvili and his environment as ensuring his country’s security.

61% of the respondents essentially approve of Sergey Ivanov’s characteristic of Georgia as a “criminal state” (the major portion of such responses – 78% — was registered in Moscow and St. Petersburg, in other settlements they made 55-61%); and 29% disapproved of the statement.

Russian citizens also believe that Russia has to retaliate with taking a number of rigid measures – to introduce an economic blockade of the country (40% of respondents), to deport from Russia all citizens of Georgia illegally staying in the Russian territory (37%), to freeze transportation and postal communication between Russia and Georgia, and to sever diplomatic relations with Georgia (20% each group).

30% of the respondents believe that Russia must not yield to provocations and focus on normalizing the bilateral relations. 5% reason that none of the above should be done.

62% of Russia’s citizens are optimistic about the future of the Russian-Georgian relations: 20% of them trust that the relations will be normalized soon and 42% — that the conflict will be resolved, although some tensions will endure. 28% of the respondents are pessimistic: 24% find most probable the breakup of political and economic relations between the two countries and 4% deem war likely.

1,592 citizens of Russia took part in the survey. Sampling error does not exceed 3.4%.