MOSCOW. May 17 (Interfax) - Public opinion surveys reveal that U.S. President George W. Bush's visit to Russia, scheduled for next week, concerns not only political figures but also regular Russian citizens.
According to a nationwide poll of 1,500 urban and rural citizens, conducted by the Public Opinion foundation on May 11, the key issues on the summit's agenda will be international security, efforts against terrorism and the Middle East peace process. Fifteen percent of those polled believe that these issues are the most important for Bush and 14% believed that these issues are important for Putin.
Other topics to be discussed include the establishment of friendly, partner-like relations between Russia and the U.S. (12% and 10% respectively), development of economic ties between the two countries (11% and 5%), the reduction of weapons and missile defense issues (8% and 14%), and the defense of national interests (4% and 10%).
Regarding the goals to be pursued by the Russian and American presidents at the summit, the respondents predicted that the two presidents will pursue different goals on each set of issues to be negotiated.
In particular, respondents believe that when the presidents discuss international security, Bush will raise the issue of Chechnya and ways to resolve it, while Putin, who will not seek to elaborate on the Chechen issue, will talk about "peace and ways to end all wars."
As far as economic problems are concerned, Putin will bring up U.S. loans and subsidies, while Bush will want to discuss "commercial matters," according to those polled.
Regarding national interests, the U.S. president will attempt "to impose his will on Putin," "to use the Russian president towards pursuing his own ends," and "to win our confidence and then play a dirty trick." On the other hand, Putin's aim will be to resist attempts "to guard Russia from the imposition of U.S. interests," "to put Bush in his place," and "to show that Russia is a strong country."
The poll revealed that 58% of Russians consider the U.S. to be unfriendly towards Russia, while 25% take the opposite view.
Sociologists also noted that Russian citizens were especially convinced of the U.S.' "unfriendliness" in March 2002, when Russians were insulted by an apparently biased attitude from judges towards Russian athletes at the Olympic Games in Salt Lake City, for which they mostly blamed the host country.