OREANDA-NEWS. Kommersant newspaper published the results of a large-scale survey of citizens of Belarus about their attitude towards Russia.

Being asked about what kind of relations with Russia they consider most acceptable for Belarus, 57.6 % answered “allied”, 31.8 % answered “partner” (totally 89.4 %). 10.2 % prefer “neutral” relations. 0.2 % of respondents believe that relations between the two countries should be “hostile.” The same number found it difficult to answer this question.

Besides, it was found out that 21.4 % of Belarusian citizens visit Russia several times a year, 55.4 % visit Russia once a year or less frequently, 23.2 % reported that they had never been to Russia.

67 % of the survey participants did not notice any “deliberate influence” of Russia on the last election campaign in Belarus. 30.8 % were unable to assess whether there was such an influence or not.

The study was conducted by the Center for Spatial Analysis of International Relations of the Institute for International Studies of the Moscow State Institute of International Relations, in the framework of the project “Transformations of Electoral Behavior in the Regions of Foreign Countries Borderline with the Russian Federation: Comparative Spatial Analysis.” During the survey, more than 7 thousand telephone calls were made, 500 questionnaires were collected with sample control in all regions of Belarus and according to the gender and age structure of country’s population.

Last week in Washington, in the Helsinki Commission of the USA Congress, hearings were held on the Russian interference in the affairs of Belarus. Four experts proposed different tools for liberating Minsk from Moscow’s influence.