Poll: Nearly half of Russians fear Syrian conflict could start world war 3
About half of Russians, 48 percent, are afraid that the escalation of relations between Russia and the West due to Syria may erupt into a third world war, as evidenced by a survey of the Levada Analytical Center that was issued on Monday, October 31. Replying to the relevant question, 38 percent of respondents stated that they have some fears regarding such developments. An additional 10 percent of Russians, in turn, express “great fear” regarding such a scenario. On the other hand, 31 percent don’t have any special fears, and 11 percent of Russian citizens are not afraid at all that disagreements between Russia and the West regarding Syria may lead to a third world war.
According to the survey, more than a third of respondents, 39 percent, believe that Russia and Western countries will not manage to find enough common ground to settle the situation in Syria. Another 35 percent of citizens expect it will occur.
The Russian population’s support for intervening in the Syrian conflict has not changed significantly in a year, Levada-Center reports. Nearly half (49 percent) believes that the Kremlin has to continue intervention in Syria. And the number of Russian citizens who support Russia’s bombing of Syrian facilities decreased by just 3 percent over the past year, to 52 percent. Conversely, 26 percent of Russians are not in favor of bombing.
In general, in the past year Russians have become more interested in the situation in Syria.
Over the last month, the number of respondents who called the situation in Syria one of the most memorable events of the last 30 days has sharply increased – 55 percent compared to 13 percent in September.