Russian poll: Germany is the greatest enemy

The latest public opinion poll results in Russia show that Germany has replaced the United States as the biggest enemy in the eyes of Russians.

Deutsche Welle Chinese website reported that according to a survey by Lewada, a non-governmental public opinion research institution in Russia, when asked about the "least friendly country", 55% of the respondents believed it was Germany. The center said that since May 2020, this ratio has risen by 40 percentage points.

Over the past 20 years, the United States has consistently ranked first among the "least friendly countries". Nowadays, only 40% of the respondents still list the United States as the least friendly country. This ratio was 76% in 2024. The investigation report holds that this is related to the recovery of Russia-US relations during the administration of US President Trump.

In contrast, Germany has come under increasingly severe criticism from Moscow for its strong advocacy of providing weapons to Ukraine, which has been invaded by Russia. Since CDU leader Mertz became the Chancellor of Germany, Russia's criticism of Germany has further intensified.

Among the countries regarded as the most hostile to Russia, the United Kingdom ranked second (mentioned by 49% of the respondents), while Ukraine ranked third with 43%.

In this representative survey, Russians were also asked about the five countries they considered the friendliest. Eighty percent of the respondents ranked neighboring Belarus as the top country, and two-thirds mentioned China. The third place is Kazakhstan (36%), followed by India (32%) and North Korea (30%).

The Levada Center said that this public opinion poll was conducted between May 22nd and 28th, and a total of 1,613 citizens aged 18 and above were surveyed.