This survey took place between January 19-23, 2018 and was conducted throughout all of Russia in both urban and rural settings. The survey was carried out among 1600 people over the age of 18 in 137 localities of 48 of the country’s regions. The survey was conducted as a personal interview in respondents’ homes. The answer distribution is presented as percentages of the number of participants along with data from previous surveys. The statistical error of these studies for a selection of 1600 people (with a probability of 0.95) does not exceed: 3.4% for indicators around 50%; 2.9% for indicators around 25%/75%; 2.0% for indicators around 10%/90%; 1.5% for indicators around 5%/95%.
ON DECEMBER 20, 1917 THE VCHEKA (ALL-RUSSIAN EXTRAORDINARY COMMISSION) WAS FOUNDED. DO YOU KNOW WHAT THIS ORGANIZATION DID? (respondents answered independently and could give more than one answer, and interviewers entered the answers into a designation system; ranked in descending order according to 2018)
| Dec.97 | Jan.18 | |
| They fought against counterrevolutionaries, saboteurs, and opponents of the Soviet government | 40 | 32 |
| They fought crime (theft, racketeering, profiteering) | 42 | 28 |
| Counterintelligence | 9 | 15 |
| Intelligence | 8 | 13 |
| Political terrorism, the repression of dissidents | 23 | 12 |
| They were political police, the secret police of the Soviet era | 12 | 8 |
| Dealt with the issue of homeless children | 13 | 7 |
| Restoring the country’s economy | 5 | 4 |
| Resolving other social issues | 3 | 3 |
| It is difficult to say | 23 | 36 |
WHAT IS THE FIRST THING THAT COMES TO MIND WHEN YOU HEAR ABOUT THE KGB? (respondents answered independently and could give more than one answer, and interviewers entered the answers into a designation system; ranked in descending order according to January 2018)
| Dec.00 | Dec.07 | Jan.18 | |
| Protecting the state’s interests/government secrets | 22 | 31 | 41 |
| Conducting surveillance on people, informants | 19 | 15 | 19 |
| The purges, 1937 | 22 | 16 | 17 |
| Professionals, no idiots worked there | 12 | 15 | 15 |
| Fighting corruption under Brezhnev and Androvpov | 8 | 9 | 15 |
| Purges, executions during the Civil War | 10 | 10 | 14 |
| A mysterious, secretive organization | 11 | 16 | 12 |
| The persecution of dissidents | 9 | 10 | 11 |
| The FSB | 8 | 11 | 9 |
| Felix Dzerzhinsky | 4 | 8 | 9 |
| Lavrentiy Beria | 7 | 8 | 8 |
| The NKVD | 5 | 6 | 6 |
| Honest, decent people | 7 | 5 | 5 |
| The violation of socialist law | 2 | 4 | 4 |
| Provocation, terrorist attacks | 3 | 3 | 3 |
| The Cheka, VCheka | 2 | 4 | 2 |
| The Joint State Political Directorate (OGPU) | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Nikolai Yezhov | 3 | 3 | 2 |
| Genrikh Yagoda | 1 | 2 | 2 |
| Other positive statements | 5 | 3 | 5 |
| Other neutral statements | 2 | 5 | 3 |
| Other negative statements | 6 | 4 | 2 |
| Other government agencies | <1 | 1 | <1 |
| Other heads of government agencies | <1 | 1 | 1 |
| It is difficult to say | 17 | 13 | 10 |
Translated by Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey (formerly Monterey Institute of International Studies).
The ANO Levada Center has been forcibly included in the registry of non-commercial organizations acting as foreign agents. Read the Director of the Levada Center’s statement of disagreement with this decision here.