In May 2025, respondents named Belarus, China, Kazakhstan, India and North Korea as the friendliest countries for Russia. The most hostile were Germany, Great Britain, Ukraine, the USA and Poland; for the first time in 20 years of measurements, the USA dropped from first to fourth place in this list. Two thirds of respondents are confident that relations between Russia and the West will always be based on mistrust (the highest level in the entire observation period), while the absolute majority of respondents are in favor of détente. The attitude towards India and Brazil is predominantly positive, the attitude towards the USA and Japan is almost equally divided, the attitude towards European countries is predominantly negative, and 3/4 of Russians have a negative attitude towards Ukraine. Most often, respondents have visited neighboring countries, and least often – America
Among the countries that can be called the closest friends and allies of Russia, respondents most often name Belarus – 80%. Two-thirds of respondents mention China (64%), a third – Kazakhstan (36%), India (32%), North Korea (30%). The share of respondents who mention Belarus and China has been growing since 2012 and has been at its peak over the past two years (an increase of 46 percentage points and 48 percentage points, respectively). Also, the share of those who perceive India as an ally increased in 2022 against the backdrop of the Ukrainian conflict. But the shares of respondents who consider Iran and Armenia allies decreased to 11% (a decrease of 11 percentage points since May 2024) and 9% (a decrease of 11 percentage points since May 2022), respectively.
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[2]Among unfriendly countries, respondents most often name Germany (55%, an increase of 40 percentage points since May 2020), Great Britain (49%, an increase of 34 percentage points since May 2017), Ukraine (43%, an increase of 12 percentage points since May 2022), the United States (40%, a decrease of 36 percentage points since May 2024), Poland (37%) and France (32%, an increase of 29 percentage points since May 2020), with another 28% mentioning Lithuania and Latvia.
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[4]In addition, respondents were asked about their attitudes toward certain countries. The respondents have the best attitude toward India (good – 76%) and Brazil (good – 68%), moderately good attitudes toward Japan (good – 41%) and the USA (good – 37%). The attitude toward the EU (bad – 64%), Great Britain (bad – 65%), Poland (bad – 71%) and Ukraine (bad – 74%) is significantly worse.
[5]Attitudes toward the United States continue to improve amid the peacemaking efforts of the new presidential administration. In May 2025, 37% of respondents had a good attitude toward the United States (up 21 percentage points since September 2024), while 47% had a bad attitude (down 25 percentage points since September 2024).
The attitude towards the USA is better among young people under 24 (49%), Muscovites (42%), and those who have been to European countries (49%).
The attitude towards the United States is worse among respondents aged 40-54 (52%) and those who have never been to European countries (49%).
[6]Since the last survey over three months ago, attitudes towards the EU have remained virtually unchanged: every second person (64%) has a negative attitude, and every fifth person (21%) has a positive attitude.
The attitude towards the EU is better among young people under 24 (38%), those who believe that things in the country are going down the wrong path (26%), and those who trust YouTube channels as a source of information (35%).
The attitude towards the EU is worse among older respondents (55 years and older) – 72%, those who believe that things in the country are going in the right direction (69%), and those who trust television as a source of information (67%).
[7]The attitude of Russians towards Ukraine has somewhat worsened: 74% have a bad attitude (an increase of 6 percentage points since February 2025), 14% have a good attitude (the lowest figure for the entire period of observation).
The attitude towards Ukraine is better among those who believe that things in the country are going down the wrong path (20%) and those who trust YouTube channels as a source of information (35%).
The attitude towards Ukraine is worse among those who believe that things in the country are going in the right direction (77%) and those who trust television as a source of information (81%).
[8]The majority of respondents still have a positive attitude towards India (85%), but over the past year this number has decreased by 9 percentage points (and the share of those who have a very positive attitude has more than halved to 15%). Every tenth respondent has a negative attitude towards India.
[9]Public opinion about Brazil continues to develop – there is positive growth: over 30 years, the share of respondents who find it difficult to answer the question about their attitude towards Brazil has almost halved – to 24%, and the number of those who say they have a good attitude towards the country has grown to 68% (an increase of 17 percentage points since March 1995). Only 8% of respondents have a bad attitude towards Brazil.
[10]After a sharp deterioration in attitudes towards the UK in 2022, they are gradually recovering and in May 2025, every fifth respondent had a good attitude towards the UK (20%, an increase of 5 percentage points), while two-thirds of respondents (64%) had a bad attitude towards the UK.
The attitude towards Great Britain is better among young people under 24 (37%), those who believe that things in the country are going down the wrong path (32%), and those who trust YouTube channels as a source of information (41%).
The attitude towards Great Britain is worse among older respondents (55 years and over) – 77%, those who believe that things in the country are going in the right direction (70%), and those who trust television as a source of information (71%).
[11]Attitudes towards Poland before 2011 were generally positive, but in the last two years have been predominantly negative – 70% of respondents had a bad attitude towards Poland in May 2025, and 16% of respondents had a good attitude towards Poland.
The attitude towards Poland is better among women (20%), young people under 24 (31%), those who think that things in the country are going on the wrong track (25%), those who trust YouTube channels as a source of information (26%).
The attitude towards Poland is worse among men (78%), older respondents (55 years and older) – 83%, those who believe that things in the country are going in the right direction (76%), and those who trust television as a source of information (76%).
[12]Attitudes toward Japan continue to gradually deteriorate: while in 2009 78% of respondents had a good attitude toward the country, in May 2025 this share was 41%. The same number of respondents (41%) have a bad attitude toward Japan.
[13]Pessimistic sentiments about relations between Russia and the West prevail among Russians, with two-thirds of respondents believing that relations will always be based on mistrust (66%) (the highest level in the entire observation period). Every fourth person (25%) believes that relations between Russia and the West can be truly friendly.
Women (27%), young people under 24 (32%), and those who trust YouTube channels as a source of information (37%) are more likely than others to believe that relations between Russia and the West can be truly friendly.
Men (69%) and older respondents (69%) are more likely than others to believe that relations between Russia and the West will always be based on mistrust.
[14]However, the majority of Russians are in favor of the need to improve relations with the West: the share of those who believe that Russia needs to improve relations with the United States and other Western countries has reached its highest level for the entire observation period – 80% (an increase of 28 percentage points since May 2024). Only 14% of respondents say that there is no need to improve relations (the lowest value for the entire observation period).
[15]Most often, respondents answer that they have been to neighboring countries, the republics of the former USSR (except for the Baltic countries) – four out of ten respondents, 16% of respondents have visited European countries, another 12% – Asian countries, and only 2% have been to America.
[16]The proportion of those who have visited neighboring countries, the republics of the former USSR (except for the Baltic countries), is higher among older respondents (51% among respondents aged 55 and older), respondents with higher education (50%), and residents of Moscow (53%).
The proportion of those who have visited European countries is higher among older respondents (18% among respondents aged 40-54, 55 years and older), respondents with higher education (27%), wealthier respondents (20% among those who barely have enough to eat), and residents of Moscow (53%).
The proportion of those who have visited Asian countries is higher among respondents with higher education (17%), wealthier respondents (16% among those who barely have enough to eat), and residents of Moscow (24%).
Methodology
The All-Russian survey of the Levada Center was conducted on May 22-28, 2025 using a representative all-Russian sample of urban and rural population of 1,613 people aged 18 and older in 137 localities and 50 constituent entities of the Russian Federation. The survey is conducted at the respondent’s home by personal interview method. The distribution of answers is given as a percentage of the total number. The data array is weighted by gender, age, education level for each type of settlement (large cities, medium-sized cities, small towns, villages) within each federal district independently, in accordance with the Rosstat data.
The statistical error with a sample of 1600 people (with a probability of 0.95) does not exceed:
3.4% for indicators close to 50%
2.9% for indicators close to 25% / 75%
2.0% for indicators close to 10% / 90%
1.5% for indicators close to 5% / 95%
More [17] about the methodology