Russian beatings follow-up

Russians at odds with Putin over Poland

The government Russian Public Opinion Research Centre conducted the survey this weekend, that is after the mugging of Russian diplomats' children in Warsaw, which president Putin described as a hostile act by anti-Russian Polish nationalists and which sparked off Russian mass media attacks on Poland, followed by a series of beatings of Poles in Moscow.

True, over 40 percent of those polled said the mugging of the Russian children in Poland was a nationalistic excess, but almost 30 percent did not believe the official propaganda and assumed it was the doing of hooligans. Thirty five percent of Russians regard Poland as a normal European country, for 13 percent it is a nice place which they would like to visit. As many as 30 percent remembered that Poland was Russia's ally during the 2nd world war and over 40 percent spoke of the common fight during the war as an important chapter in Polish-Russian relations. All that despite president Putin's failure during anniversary events last May to mention Poland's contribution to the allied victory over Nazi Germany. Despite the tensions between Poland and Russia, almost 50 percent of those polled believe that there is more that unites the two nations than divides them. An opposite view is expressed by slightly over 30 percent of the Russians. A Polish correspondent, Pawel Reszka, who has been beaten in Moscow, says his back is aching and his face is bruised, but the assault did not change his friendly attitude to Russia. He is not going to leave at least until 2006. Russia for me, he says, is much more than thugs who beat up foreigners.