It is high time to sum up our current poll results. Four answer options were available in our poll as an answer to the following question: "Which of the following statements about Russia is closer to reality?"

- You never know what to expect from Russia;

- Russia has all chances to regain the superpower status;

- Without oil and weapons Russia is a third world country;

- Russia is a reliable political partner.

You never know what to expect from Russia

45% of all respondents agreed to this statement, which shows that uncertainty and unpredictability is in Russian nature. Unpredictability spreads not only on Russian relations with other countries, but also on all levels of Russian institutions and shows nothing but one of the internal traits of the national character. While the West is always trying to set various rules in all spheres of life and follow them in order to avoid uncertainty and reach stability, in Russia even rules are often uncertain themselves.

Foreigners often imagine Russian as a bear with a big club in its clutches, and only god knows what the bear is going to do with the club next. All-Russian policy reflects the inborn contradictions and doubts of the Russian soul. As the recent reformation history has shown, only Russians can work without salary, be always ready to extreme and unexpected living conditions, and be really hard to surprise.

Russians are most likely to share this opinion too. The expressions “uncertainty in the future” and “unpredictability in the country” have become almost collocations in Russian.

Russia has all chances to regain the superpower status

This is what 27% of our poll respondents think, and it seems quite close to reality. It is hard to define what the conclusion of our respondents is based on, but perhaps the potential of the country to increase its influence is to some extent obvious. It is known that despite having some problems Russia still owns nuclear power, high class weapons which are also exported to different countries, and when the country does something it makes news around the world.

Another interesting thing is that despite its economical decline, Russia still has many talented people and is able to maintain a good share of outstanding scientific-research institutes. Perhaps it’s not weapons that make the country great, but its people.

An interesting discussion and opinions on the superpower topic we can find on one of the BBC pages.

news.bbc.co.uk

Without oil and weapons Russia is a third world country

25% of the poll participants are sure that this statement is closer to reality than the rest. That would be superfluous to notice that oil is one of the factors making other countries defer with Russian position on the international level.

Nuclear arsenal and weaponization also add weight to the country’s authority. However, only the time when Russia really loses oil and weapons can show whether this statement was the closest to reality.

Russia is a reliable political partner

That is amazing but there are 3% of poll participants who consider Russia a reliable political partner. This is maybe true that for some countries it really is. Nevertheless, if you have a careful look at foreign, and especially western media, Russian image is drawn as a country located far from being called a reliable political, and especially energy partner. Stability and certainty are one of the reliability components, while Russia can hardly be called stable and certain.

Photos:

    www.euro2day.gr

    www.deldesign.org

    www.cybertime.net

Lavrentyeva Natalya