Russians regard North Caucasus more positively

A public opinion poll by Levada-Center held on May 23-26th and published today showed that Russian citizens regard the North Caucasus ever more positively in regards to security in the region. In comparison with January, the number of those who assess the situation in the NCFD as calm and safe rose from 18% to 44%.

The number of respondents who think that the Caucasus exists in a tense atmosphere fell from 60% to 40%; the number of people who consider the situation in the NCFD critical fell from 12% to 3%.

53% of respondents still think that this year the situation in the republics will remain at the same level.

 

 

Director General of the Center for Political Information, Alexei Mukhin, told Vestnik Kavkaza that optimism of the Russian residents on the situation in the NCFD meets the real developments in the North Caucasus.“I think the trigger of optimism was that everybody expected terrorist attacks or protest actions ahead of the Olympics and during the Games, but it didn’t happen, except for the Volgograd terrorist attack in the end of 2013. It leads to psychological relaxation,” he explained.Mukhin stressed that there is a connected between focusing on the Ukraine events of the mass media and the warming attitude to the North Caucasus. However, it is not direct. “We should remember that the Ukrainian crisis is a foreign political direction, while the North Caucasus is our internal affairs,” Mukhin says.

The Director General of the Center for Political Information, Alexei Mukhin, told Vestnik Kavkaza that the optimism of Russian residents about the situation in the NCFD corresponds to the real developments in the North Caucasus.

 

 

“I think the trigger of optimism was that everybody expected terrorist attacks or protest actions ahead of the Olympics and during the Games, but it didn’t happen, except for the Volgograd terrorist attack at the end of 2013. This leads to psychological relaxation,” he explained.

 

 

Mukhin stressed that there is a connection between focusing on the Ukrainian events in the mass media and the warming attitude to the North Caucasus. However, it is not direct. “We should remember that the Ukrainian crisis is a foreign political direction, while the North Caucasus is our internal affair,” Mukhin says.