Languages

13 percent of Russians want Western-style democracy

Everyday life in Murmansk.

64 percent of the respondents in a Levada poll think relations between Russia and the West always will be built on distrust.

Location

The current cold political climate between East and West has a clear influence on Russians view on the West. 

While only 13 percent argued that Russia needs a democracy as in the developed countries of Europe and America, 16 percent said they would like to see a democracy model such as it was in the Soviet Union. The Levada poll was made in late September. 

Asked the same set of questions last autumn, 26 percent said they were in favour of Russia getting a Western-style democracy. 

In the latest poll, 45 percent said a Western-style democracy even would be inappropriate or harmful for Russia. 

Two-thirds of Russians, 62 percent, agree that the country needs democracy. That is up from 56 percent when the same question was asked last autumn. However, 55 percent believes that Russia requires a special form of democratic government, taking into account the peculiarities of the country, reads the results of the poll posted by Levada Centre.