According to the Democracy Perception Index (DPI) report, 11 out of 53 countries surveyed — representing nearly half the world’s population — continue to have a high opinion of Putin’s Russia, despite being daily bombarded with gruesome images of war’s effect on Ukraine.

Vladimir Putin’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine has left countries across the world divided over Russia. The Democracy Perception Index (DPI) shows that while most countries are against Russia, there are still some nations which are kindly disposed towards Moscow. As the Russia-Ukraine war completed its 100 days, here's a look at how the world perceives Russia.

The report published last month suggested that India and China were among 11 (out of 53) countries that expressed a positive opinion about Russia. Those surveyed in these two countries had "net positive perceptions." This was followed by other countries in Asia, including Pakistan and Indonesia, and the Middle East.

Eleven out of 53 might seem to be a small fraction, but the report said: "These 11 countries represent nearly half of the world’s total population." Meanwhile, war-torn Ukraine, Poland and Portugal were some among the countries where people had a negative opinion of Russia.

(Source: Democracy Perception Index (DPI))

"(In all) perceptions of Russia are far more negative than positive in most countries, resulting in an average net perception of -32," the report said.

World divided over cutting ties with Russia

The West, including the United States (US) and European Union (EU), have repeatedly asserted that they no longer want any kind of ties with Russia after its invasion of Ukraine. They have imposed several sanctions on Russia, its President Vladimir Putin and many rich oligarchs.

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People in 31 out of the 52 countries were more in favour of cutting ties than keeping ties. The survey report revealed that while most people in the Western democracies maintained the West's collective opinion that they don't want any ties with Russia, the rest of the world gave mixed signals.

(Source: Democracy Perception Index (DPI))

According to the report, Hungary and Greece are the only countries in Europe that don’t want to cut ties with Russia. In Hungary, 31 percent of polled citizens said they want ties with Russia, while in Greece, 34 percent said so. These percentages prove that the majority of people polled in these two countries had a negative perception of Russia.

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Except for Hungary and Greece, other countries, including Pakistan, China, Indonesia, Vietnam, Israel and Turkey said they don't want to sever ties with Russia.

Ukrainian service members walk near a school building destroyed by shelling, as Russia's invasion of Ukraine continues, in Zhytomyr, Ukraine March 4, 2022. REUTERS/Viacheslav Ratynskyi

Among the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) countries, India and Brazil had "slightly more people in favour of cutting than keeping ties." Less than net negative 25 percent of polled citizens in India, South Korea and France said they want to cut ties.

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In countries such as South Africa, Pakistan, Thailand and Saudi Arabia, there were slightly more people in favour of keeping ties.

Meanwhile, people in China overwhelmingly supported keeping ties over cutting ties, with 62 percent being in favour of it.

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Is US, UN AND EU doing enough for Ukraine?

Across the 53 countries, 46 percent of the respondents said the US, EU, and NATO have not done enough to assist Ukraine during the Russian invasion. As many as 43 percent believed that the trio have done the right amount.

Strangely, in Chile, the maximum number of respondents thought the US, the EU and NATO did too little for Ukraine, currently under attack from Russia. Ukraine, Europe's second-largest country under attack, followed suit with 66 percent of the surveyed citizens saying too little was being done. Meanwhile, 16 percent of Chinese thought so, followed by major European countries such as Germany (32 percent) and France (34 percent), Thailand and Hungary.

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Russia and China back each other

An analysis of the DPI report revealed that people in Russia and China have positive views of each other’s countries. They both prefer keeping economic ties and have a negative impression of the US and the EU.

Of the 53 countries surveyed, only two —Russia (-24) and China (-16) — have a net negative opinion of the EU.

"The countries with the most overwhelmingly negative perceptions of the US are Russia and China," the report said.

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When it came to perceptions about China, the majority of polled citizens in Russia and Pakistan said they think positively of China. "China is most popular in Russia and in Pakistan, followed by many countries in the Middle East and Africa (Morocco, Nigeria, Algeria, Kenya, Egypt and Saudi Arabia)," the report said.

Also, according to the report, the majority of people in both Russia and China want to keep ties between the two countries intact.

The Russia-Ukraine war

The Russia-Ukraine war entered its 100th day on Friday. There seems to be no end to the war with Russia intensifying its attack on the eastern parts of Ukraine. Since the launch of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24, Russian troops have been pounding Ukraine with bombs and missiles.

On June 3, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy exuded confidence that its country will win the war. He said, “We have been defending Ukraine for 100 days. We will win!”

According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, 261 children have been killed in the war so far and as many as 500,000 Ukrainians were forcibly deported to Russia.

(Source: MFA Ukraine/Twitter)

Meanwhile, the West sending weapons to Ukraine to fight Russian forces drew flak from Moscow. According to a Reuters report, Moscow's ambassador to Washington said Russia has asked the US to stop sending more arms to Ukraine, warning that large Western deliveries of weapons were inflaming the conflict and would lead to more losses.

(Edited by : Akriti Anand/ Shoma)

First Published:Jun 3, 2022 8:48 PM IST