Russians' attitudes toward the West have improved greatly after sinking to a post-Soviet nadir following the 2008 Georgia war, thanks largely to U.S. President Barack Obama's readiness to engage in a dialogue with Moscow, analysts and Russian diplomats said Monday.
The number of Russians who like the United States soared from a low of 31 percent in November 2008 to 54 percent in January, while the number who dislike the United States fell from 54 percent to 31 percent, according to a new survey by the independent Levada Center.
The shift can be attributed to the election of a new U.S. administration and the subsequent shift in Washington's foreign policy, Foreign Ministry spokesman Igor Lyakin-Frolov told The Moscow Times.
"George Bush's administration was trying to dictate the rules, while Obama has supported a multilateral approach so far, and we can at least talk about the problems between our countries now," he said.
Lyakin-Frolov said a significant amount of the public's dislike for the United States evaporated after Obama decided last spring against pressing ahead with former President George W. Bush's plan to install elements of a missile shield in Poland and the Czech Republic, a thorny issue in U.S.-Russian relations for several years.
Polina Cherepova, a researcher with the Levada Center, agreed and noted that public sympathies toward the United States are usually strong after an administration change in Washington because Russians view the Americans as their biggest partner in global affairs and place their hopes for good relations on new presidents.
Lyakin-Frolov dismissed as secondary the notion that anti-U.S. propaganda on state-controlled television had been a main driver shaping the public's negative perception of the West.
"Information only trails real politics," he said.
Obama's attempts to "reset" relations with Moscow have left state media with little negative news to report.
Russians' mood has changed less dramatically toward the European Union, according to the Levada poll of 1,600 people nationwide. A total of 64 percent of Russians liked the European Union in January compared with 52 percent in November 2008, while the number who didn't like the EU declined from 29 percent to 19 percent.
Perceptions of Ukraine have also altered strongly over the past year. While only 29 percent of Russians liked the country in January 2008, more than half — 52 percent — said they like it now.
Lyakin-Frolov said Russians were appalled by attempts by former Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko to discredit the Soviet past in order to build a new national Ukrainian identity and that they were glad to see him voted out of office in January.
The survey had a margin of error of 3.4 percentage points.