Thursday, April 7 2022 15:30

ArmInfo.Despite the strategic, allied relations of Armenia with Russia, as well as the special role of Russia in Armenia's security issues, the results of the "Armenian  society  at the crossroads. Foreign policy orientations, priorities  and  perceptions" sociological survey by the SOCIES Expert Center  show that the image of Russia as a friendly country for Armenian  society is almost the same as that of the Islamic Republic of Iran  (IRI).

According to the survey, in particular, among the countries involved  in regional politics, 47.1% of the respondents surveyed consider the  Russian Federation a friend of Armenia, while 39.3% treat Russia  neither as a friend nor as an enemy, 12. 9% - consider the enemy.   45.3% of respondents are friendly towards Iran, 48.5% - consider Iran  neither a friend nor an enemy, 4.2% - an enemy. The situation is more  clear with Turkey and Azerbaijan, where 97.1% and 98.6% respectively  called the latter enemies of Armenia. Only 0.1% consider Turkey and  Azerbaijan a friend, 2.5% and 1% respectively - neither friend nor  enemy.

At the same time, among the respondents who consider Russia a friend  of Armenia, the largest percentage (57.4%) falls on citizens aged 56  years and above; citizens aged 36 to 55- neither friend nor enemy  (42.7%); and citizens aged 18 to 35 have the most negative attitude  towards the Russian Federation (17%).

Of the number of respondents who regard the Russian Federation as a  friend for Armenia, 74% are citizens with incomplete secondary  education, 51% - with secondary education, 54% - with vocational  education, 37% - with higher education, 29% - with an academic  degree.

The Russian Federation is considered as enemy by: 4% of citizens with  incomplete secondary education, 12% of citizens with a secondary  education, 10% - with a vocational education, 17% - with a higher  education, and 14% with an academic degree.

a neutral attitude towards the Russian Federation have: 57% of  citizens  with an academic degree, 46% with a higher education, 36%  with a vocational education, 37% with a secondary education, and 22%  with an incomplete secondary education.

Outside the region, Armenia's biggest friend is France (84.2%),  followed by India (43.8%), China (42.8%), USA (38.2%), Germany  (24.2%), Belarus (12%), Kazakhstan (9%) and the in smallest  percentage -Israel (2.5%).  

To the question "who is the enemy for the Republic of Armenia, 50.5%  of respondents mentioned Israel, followed by Belarus (17.9%),  Kazakhstan (11.6%), the United States (4.1%), other countries in  smallest percentage. According to the study, over the past decade,  the level of trust of Armenians in the Russian Federation has been  declining. In particular, if in 2011 80% of respondents trusted the  Russian Federation, by 2017 this figure had dropped to 64%, against  this background, trust in France grew from 1% in 2011 to 17% in 2017.    

It should be noted that the survey was conducted with the assistance  of YSU and the financial support of the Konrad Adenauer Foundation.  The study involved 1,530 people, of whom 570 were residents of  Yerevan, 430 were residents of regional cities, and 530 were  villagers. The age category of respondents is as follows: from 18 to  34 years old - 531 people, from 35 to 49 years old - 387 people, from  50 to 64 years old - 374 people, and over 65 years old - 238 people.  Sampling error +/-3.3%, probability 0.99%.