Voice of the people

The All-Russian Public Opinion Research Center has published the results of yet another poll. According to them, Russians think that Kazakhstan is the most reliable Russian partner in the CIS. It is the first time that Kazakhstan has ‘defeated’ Belarus in such a poll. Andit is not only the tensions between the Kremlin and Alexander Lukashenko that did the trick, it has been the constant presence of Astana in the Russian media during the run-up to the OSCE Summit.

On the other hand, we see a cardinal change in Russian citizens’ attitude towards another Russian Slavic partner – Ukraine. When Mr.Yushchenko was Ukrainian president, the partnership ratings of the State were pretty low, but now Yanukovych is second only to Nazarbayev. So the friendly image of Ukraine has been pretty much re-established, due to the efforts of the two governments after the ‘orange rule’.

This tendency can be seen in the ratings of other CIS leaders. It isnoteworthy that third place is given to the Azerbaijani President, Ilham Aliyev, indicating positive tendencies in Moscow-Baku relations.The relations between post-Soviet states are based for the most part on personal relations between their leaders, so the fact that Medvedev and Aliyev get along affects the political process between the two countries. Kazakhstan and Belarus are on top of another rating list: they are the most culturally and historically interesting countries for Russians. Their close competitor is again Ukraine. So, those states that conduct an active information policy in the cultural field win the sympathies of Russian people.

Of course, Azerbaijan’s and Uzbekistan’s history and culture are no less interesting. It is possible that the informational accents are misplaced, so Russian people are not as interested in humanitarian partnership with these countries.

The list of the countries that are the most important strategic partners of Russia in the CIS-space remains the same. Even constant quarrels with Minsk officials have not changed Russians’ attitude towards this country as an important partner. And that proves that there are deeper ties between these states than their elites’ interactions. And it is very important that the relations between Russia and Belarus be based on these firm pillars, and not the changing sympathies of political leaders. Consistency and strategic stability should become the basis for mutually beneficial and efficient co-operation.

Alexey Vlasov, exclusively to VK