Three Quarters of Russians Now Believe that ‘Russia is Better than Other Countries’ and that ‘People Must Support Their Country Even if It is Wrong,’ Levada Center Surveys Find

Paul Goble

            Staunton, Aug. 21 – Seventy-six percent of Russian citizens now believe that “Russia is better than other countries” and 73 percent say that “people must support their country even if it is wrong,” both figures that have gone up over the last decade, according to data collected by the independent Levada Center polling agency.

            In 1996, only 36 percent of Russians thought that Russia is better than other countries, a figure that increased to 44 percent in 2003, 49 percent in 2012, and 64 percent in 2014; and the share saying that people must support their country “even if it is wrong” has changed from 55 percent in 1996, 52 percent in 2003, 54 percent in 2012, and 49 percent in 2014 (levada.ru/2025/08/21/predstavleniya-o-rossijskoj-identichnosti-i-rossijskom-grazhdanstve/).

            Asked whether in Russia now there are things that make them ashamed, only 20 percent said yes, while 66 percent said now. In 1996, 80 percent said there were things being done in Russia that made them ashamed, a figure that remained at 80 percent in 2003 before falling to 51 percent in 2012 and 20 percent in 2014. Since then the figure has remained the same.

            According to the current survey, 95 percent of those surveyed said that to be considered a civic Russian, one must first consider oneself to be that.  Eighty-nine percent said that presupposed having Russian citizenship, and 91 percent said that it required respecting the Russian political system and its laws.

            Sixty-one percent say that to be a civic Russian, it is important to be an Orthodox Christian, up from 35 percent in 1996 wit 43 percent declaring that one needs to be an ethnic Russian to be a true civic Russian.  At the same time, 54 percent say that others can become “true civic Russians” if they make special efforts to do so.