VCIOM: Russians consider US attack on Syrian airfield as provocation

An 82% majority of Russian nationals consider the recent US missile attack on the Syrian military airfield in Ash Sha’irat to be a provocation aimed at destabilizing the situation in the war-torn country, a new survey conducted by the Russian Public Opinion Research Center (VCIOM) revealed.

"The majority of Russians, 82%, tend to consider the US missile strike on the Syrian military base to be a provocation aimed at destabilization of the situation, and over 70% from all social and demographic groups agree with that. Only 6% of our fellow citizens call Washington's actions a response to the use of chemical weapons by [Syrian President] Bashar Assad's troops," Sputnik cited the poll as saying.

According to the poll, 12% of respondents were unable to describe the motives behind the US strike.

The poll was conducted on April 11-12 on the basis of interviews with 1200 people, with a margin of error not exceeding 3.5%.