More than half of Russians are not concerned about Western sanctions. At the same time, by August, this concern had grown slightly. Middle-income respondents and residents of large cities are most concerned about sanctions. At the same time the prevailing opinion is that sanctions will benefit the country and become an incentive for development.
In August, concern about sanctions increased slightly compared to May: sanctions did not bother 31% of respondents at all (in May — 29%); not too much — 26% (in May — 32%); rather worried — 19% (in May — 21%); very worried — 22% (in May — 17%). Concern about sanctions is at the level of November 2018.
Moscow residents are most concerned about sanctions – 46% of them are concerned about sanctions. Also, relatively high concern is typical for residents of cities from 100 to 500 thousand and more than 500 thousand of the population. Sanctions worry 44% of respondents who “have enough for clothes”. 23% of those who have enough for clothes are very worried about sanctions, 21% are quite worried; among respondents who “barely have enough for food”, sanctions are very worried about 26%, quite worried about 15%. There are no noticeable differences in the age groups.
Slightly more than a third of respondents are concerned about the termination of supplies of some Western goods to the Russian Federation (19% are “very worried”, 18% are “quite worried”). At the same time, concerns about import restrictions are perceived only slightly more acutely than in 2014. Restrictions on entry to Western countries concern about a fifth of respondents, primarily those respondents who have been to Western countries (about 20% of Russians have such experience).
79% of respondents believe that sanctions will not have a negative impact on Russia’s development. At the same time, slightly more than half (55%) of respondents believe that sanctions will strengthen the country and become an incentive for its development, about a quarter (24%) — that sanctions will not affect development in any way. 16% believe that sanctions will cause significant damage to Russia.
METHODOLOGY
The survey by the Levada Center was conducted August 25 – 31 2022, among a representative sample of all Russian urban and rural residents. The sample was comprised of 1612 people aged 18 or older in 137 municipalities of 50 regions of the Russian Federation. The survey was conducted as a personal interview in respondents’ homes. The answer distribution is presented as percentages of the total number of participants along with data from previous surveys.
The statistical error of these studies for a sample of 1600 people (with a probability of 0.95) does not exceed:
3.4% for indicators around 50%
2.9% for indicators around 25%/75%
2.0% for indicators around 10%/90%
1.5% for indicators around 5%/95%
The ANO Levada Center is included in the registry of non-commercial organizations acting as foreign agents.