Most Russians no longer consider the United States their country’s main enemy, according to a Levada Center survey released Thursday, as Donald Trump’s return to the White House fuels hopes of a diplomatic thaw between Moscow and Washington.
The share of respondents who named the U.S. as the most hostile country toward Russia has nearly halved to 40% this year, down from 76% in 2024.
The U.S. dropped from first to fourth on the ranking for the first time in 13 years.
Germany (55%), the United Kingdom (49%) and Ukraine (43%) now rank as the top three most hostile countries in the eyes of Russian respondents.
The shift in perception follows Trump’s inauguration in January after a campaign pledge to swiftly end the war in Ukraine. In March, Russian favorability toward the U.S. doubled, Levada said.
Russian state media has in recent months portrayed Trump as a pragmatic leader open to dialogue with Moscow. At the same time, Russian attitudes toward the U.S. have historically fluctuated in response to global events.
In 2008, after the Russo-Georgian war, U.S. favorability among Russians plummeted as the Bush administration condemned Moscow’s actions and sent humanitarian aid to Georgia. However, positive sentiment later rebounded, peaking at 63% three years later, according to Levada.
A similar decline followed the 2014 annexation of Crimea and Russia’s support of separatists in eastern Ukraine, after which the U.S. imposed sanctions against Russia.
On the opposite end of the latest Levada Center survey, respondents named Belarus (80%), China (64%), Kazakhstan (36%), India (32%) and North Korea (30%) as Russia’s “closest friends and allies.”
While these rankings mirror those from last year, the share of respondents naming North Korea nearly doubled after Russian state media credited North Korean troops with helping to “liberate” the Kursk region from occupying Ukrainian forces.
In contrast, the share of respondents naming Iran as a top ally dropped to 11%, down from 22% in 2024.
Levada conducted the in-person survey among 1,613 Russian adults between May 22 and May 28.
An earlier version of this article cited the Levada Center's assessment that the U.S. fell from first place on Russians' ranking of their country's top enemies for the first time in 20 years. In fact, it is the first time the U.S. has not been No. 1 since 2012, or 13 years ago. We have updated this article to amend this error.
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