According to a poll by the Levada Centre, Estonia has scored ninth on Russia’s top enemies list; in 2007, Estonia was regarded as number one enemy of its eastern neighbour.
Levada Center, an independent think tank in Russia, has compiled a list of the countries Russians regard as the main enemies of their country. The top spot is this time taken by the United States, followed by Ukraine and Turkey.
Altogether 72% of those polled picked the US as Russia’s top enemy, which is a one-per cent decline from last year’s score.
Estonia is regarded as Russia’s top enemy by 16 per cent of the people polled.
In 2007, Estonia scored first on Russia’s top enemies’ list; that year, 60% of the people polled regarded Estonia as their country’s worst enemy, followed by Georgia and Latvia. The US only scored fourth with 35% of people picking Russia’s old Cold War foe.
The best friends of the Russian Federation, according to the poll, are Belarus, Kazakhstan, China, India and Armenia.
Russia’s top ten enemies in the world:
The United States
Ukraine
Turkey
Poland
Latvia
Lithuania
Germany
The United Kingdom
Estonia
Georgia
Russia’s top ten friends in the world:
Belarus
Kazakhstan
China
India
Armenia
Cuba
Syria
Uzbekistan
Azerbaijan
Kyrgyzstan
I
Cover: The last bilateral meeting between Estonian and Russian presidents took place eight years ago when Estonian President Toomas Hendrik Ilves and the then Russian President Dmitry Medvedev met in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia, on 28 June 2008. Less than two months later, the Russo-Georgian War raised alarm about Russia’s potentially aggressive behaviour once again.
