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Almost half of Russia’s residents consider the country a very special territory in Eurasia which in the future will see its interests drifting towards Asian countries rather than Europe, a recent opinion poll by the National Public Opinion Studies Center VTsIOM revealed.

The survey, conducted among 1,600 respondents in Russia’s 153 cities and towns mid February, showed that 45 percent of the polled share this opinion, as opposed to 38 percent who think that Russia is an integral part of Europe and that its future development will be closely connected to European countries.

According to the poll results, 47 percent of the surveyed believe that European countries are not interested in Russia’s development and consolidation since it would prove to be a menace for them. On the contrary, 34 percent think that European countries consider the country’s growth to be important.

The word ‘Europe’ arouses positive emotions in most of the respondents (77 percent), while only 11 percent feel the opposite, the poll showed. Interestingly enough, the ‘emotional rating’ of the word ‘Asia’ came in slightly lower, with 56 of the polled feeling positive and 24 percent negative towards it.

Among the vocabulary with a more negative connotation prevailing for the polled are the U.S.A., with half saying they feel negatively about the notion rather than positive, and NATO, with 57 percent feeling the same. The notions arousing more positive emotions are the European Union, with 56 percent of the surveyed feeling positive and 18 negative, and the World Trade Organization, which is positively perceived by half of the respondents as opposed to 19 percent who feel the opposite.