Respondents of public opinion polls want their relatives to serve in army

On the eve of Defenders of the Fatherland Day, VCIOM presented the results of a study ‘The trust of the population in the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation as the guarantor of the stability of the Russian state and society'. Konstantin Abramov, chairman of the All-Russian Public Opinion Research Center (VCIOM), said that the study was conducted last autumn; it involved several target groups to understand the attitude of these special target groups to our army, to the service, to consider how effective our army is.

Sociologists interviewed 600 respondents in each target group, which were divided in the following way – pre-conscription youth of 16-18 years old; Russian Armed Forces officers; men doing military service and those who have served for more than 10 months; servicemen under contract, and military family members.

“The vast majority of Russians, 82%, have a positive attitude to the Russian army. The dynamics are stable and positive. From January 2006, when we took the first measurement, the army approval rating rose from 32% to 82% in recent years. Unfortunately, this is happening against a background of existing obvious external threats, which are known by our citizens. 69% of our citizens consider that an external threat exists, it is obvious. And its acuteness is increasing. While the external threat is expressed somewhat weaker among the young people than for the general population,” Abramov said.

The citizens believe that today the army's fighting capacity is indisputable. 89% say that the army is able to defend the country. This is an unprecedented figure. In May 2000 61% of our citizens believed in that. In the youth group confidence in the tactical efficiency of the army is also quite high, at 84%.

Sociologists registered a high level of confidence in the Minister of Defense. “The army as an institution of modern Russian society is one of the most approved structures, and the leader of this institution, Sergey Shoigu, he really is one of the most popular ministers of defense. 84% of our citizens consider that he is working well, and 88% trust the Minister of Defense today. Among those who do not trust in the youth group the percentage is slightly higher. We see that 9% do not trust, although the total sample is only 4%,” the sociologist said.

Moreover, VCIOM determined the increase in the attractiveness of military service in recent years. Today it is 57%. “57% of our citizens would like to see their relatives serve in the army. In fact, the support of our citizens is the quintessence of Russians' attitude to the army. In 2010 when we asked this question, only 36% of our citizens wanted to see their relatives serving in the army,” Abramov said.