Paul
Goble
Staunton, August 22 – Russians are
less inclined to believe that Moscow’s recognition of the independence of
Abkhazia and South Osetia was useful to Russia and to think that the annexation
by their country of these two breakaway republics would be a good idea, yet
another echo of Vladimir Putin’s illegal annexation of Ukraine’s Crimea.
According to a new Levada Center
poll, slight majorities of Russians (52 and 51 percent respectively) believe
that Abkhazia and South Osetia should be independent states, but far than in
August 2008 believe that Moscow’s recognition of the two as independent states
was useful to Russia (iarex.ru/news/50138.html).
The poll found that only 25 percent
of Russians believe that their country should annex Abkhazia, down from 41
percent in 2006, and that only 24 percent believe it should absorb South
Osetia, down from 36 percent eight years ago. The share of Russians who believe
the two should be part of Georgia has remained relatively low and constant over
that period.
This pattern almost certainly
reflects the concerns of Russians about the costs both direct and indirect Putin
has incurred by annexing Crimea and likely means that there is far less support
for absorbing parts of the former Soviet republics neighboring Russia than
there may be for federalization or partition of them.
And that in turn means that any
Putin project for the restoration of a larger empire within the borders of a
single state is likely to be far less welcome in Russia itself than many in the
Kremlin and its partisans elsewhere think, a remarkable development given the
massive propaganda campaign the Russian president has unleashed on behalf of
that idea.
No comments:
Post a Comment