Russians' positive views of China have reached historic highs since the start of the crisis in Ukraine, while attitudes toward the West have fallen to their lowest since 2015, according to a recent poll conducted by the independent Moscow-based Levada Center.

The prevalence of "negative sentiment" toward Ukraine itself has increased slightly over the past month.

China

The share of Russians with a positive view of China rose in March 2022 to what Levada described as a "historical maximum" since the center began recording the attitudes of Russian citizens in 1995.

About 83 percent of Russians saw China in a positive light, compared to 70 percent in August 2021. 

Negative opinions decreased in the same period from 18% to 8%, and these numbers were largely consistent across age groups with the youngest participants deviating slightly negatively. Among the 18- to 24-year-olds, 11% expressed negative views of China, compared to 8% among the 55-and-over group.

NATO

Opinions of NATO remain negative, with only 10% of respondents expressing a positive view of the alliance, compared to 11% in the last available data set from March 2018.

Negative opinions of the alliance have not changed much from previous years, as they were 76% in 2018 and 78% in 2022.

European Union

Opinions toward the European Union declined to varying degrees, with positive ratings dropping from 37% in February to 21% this March, and negative ratings rising from 48% to 67%.

35% of respondents aged 18-24 expressed positive views of the EU, compared to 11% of those aged 55 and over.

The poll was conducted in 50 regions across Russia from March 24 to 30, 2022.

On the other hand, an opinion poll early last month reflected American sentiments toward the Russian military operation in Ukraine and indicated that 70% of the respondents now consider Russia an enemy, compared to 41% last January.