The percentage of Russians who say it is acceptable to tell white lies has almost doubled since the fall of the Soviet Union, according to a poll on Russian morals released Thursday by the Levada Center.
Just 33 percent of those surveyed in 1992 said they considered lying for a good cause to be acceptable, while 61 percent gave that answer when the same question was asked last month. The number of those who declined to give an opinion on the subject fell from 31 percent to 14 percent.
Attitudes to sex before marriage have also significantly changed, according to the poll. Just after the fall of the Soviet Union, 42 percent of Russians said sex before marriage was acceptable, but this rose to 58 percent in 2013.
The poll had a margin of error of 3.4 percent, according to Levada's website.
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