Sixty-five percent of Russians fear the Islamic State terrorist organization, which is banned in Russia, will carry out terrorist attacks on the country within a year, the Vedomosti business daily reported Thursday, citing a survey by the Levada Center independent pollster.
Almost the same percentage of respondents — 62 percent — believe terrorists will attack the United States, and 76 percent think Europe will become the next target, the report said.
More than half of Russians — 55 percent — approve of Russia's air strikes on Syria. According to the survey, they believe that by launching the offensive the country's leadership is trying to eradicate the threat of terrorism and extremism spreading into Russia.
Only 24 percent of respondents said Russia's military operation aims at supporting Syrian President Bashar Assad and, therefore, averting “color revolutions,” Vedomosti reported.
The survey's number of participants and margin of error were not given.