Survey: Global Perception of Russia as a Threat Decreased Compared to 2022

A survey conducted before the Munich Security Conference has shown a lower perception of Russia’s war against Ukraine as a major threat to the world compared to last year’s results. This is stated in a report with the results of the Munich Security Index poll. The survey collects the opinions of respondents in 12 countries on 32 different risks to track the change in trend over time. These are representative samples of 1,000 people from G7 and BRICS countries, excluding Russia, and the survey is also conducted in Ukraine on selected issues. Data collection took place in late October - early November with the involvement of credible sociological companies in these countries. The margin of error is 3.1 percentage points. Compared to the end of 2022, almost all indicators related to Russia’s war against Ukraine have decreased. According to last year’s survey, Russia remained the highest risk for the five G7 countries, now it is only the UK and Japan. The Germans now have concern about the Russian threat in 7th place, the French in 6th, and Italy in 12th. In G7 countries, the Russian threat was perceived as the biggest problem in 2022, and came fourth in the late 2023 survey. Concerns about possible large-scale migration as a result of armed conflict or climate change, as well as radical Islamist terrorism, increased significantly, especially in Europe and North America. Thus, in Germany and France, concerns about migration and terrorism are now at the top of the list, while in Italy they are next on the list after “climate” threats. Concerns about the threat from Iran have also increased markedly among the G7 countries. In the US, cyberattacks are seen as the biggest threat, followed by political polarization in society and the threat of China. Indicators related to the environment and climate change are among the top three threats in almost all countries. In the BRICS countries, unlike in the West, the perception of Russia and Iran has not changed, while the perception of China has improved. We shall remind you that representatives of the Russian and Iranian governments were not invited to the current Munich Security Conference, as well as representatives of the extreme right and extreme left in Germany. According to media reports, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky may personally attend the Munich Security Conference.