China surpasses Belarus as Russia's closest ally, survey finds
GBTIMES
2017/07/26
A survey released on Monday has revealed that Russian citizens see China as the country's closest ally and best friend.
The
Russia-based Public Opinion Foundation reported that 62 percent considered this to be the case, with Belarus (60 percent) dropping to second place having topped the chart for the previous three years. Meanwhile, Ukraine came bottom of the ranking, ahead of last year's last placed country, the United States
For the fourth straight year, Russian respondents believed that cooperation with China is crucial for the Russian economy and that its Asian neighbour is their most valuable partner.
In terms of the reasoning behind China’s importance to Russia, a third of respondents were of the opinion that “China is a rapidly developing country with great economic opportunities”, while a quarter thought that the two countries “have close economic cooperation with many contracts concluded, and that Russia has a great trade relationship with China.”
Meanwhile, China and Japan tied fifth in a poll to discover the most attractive tourism destination for Russians, behind Italy, France and Germany.
The annual survey, which was launched in 2014, interviewed 1,500 Russian citizens aged 18 and over.