Russians regard Poland and Lithuania as their greatest enemies among a list of 12 countries (not including Ukraine) presented to them in a survey by the Levada Center, an independent polling organisation.
Asked how they assess the countries, 62% of respondents said that Poland and Lithuania are “enemies”. That was more than for the United Kingdom (57%), Germany (50%), Sweden (40%), United States (27%), Israel (25%), Turkey (3%), Iran (2%), North Korea (2%), China (1%) and India (1%).
Meanwhile, only 2% of Russians see Poland as a “friend”, the same proportion as for the UK and Sweden. The figure was even lower, at 1%, for Lithuania, Germany, and the US. Russians were much more likely to see China (29%), North Korea (28%), India (24%) and Iran (18%) as friends.
While that survey question did not include Ukraine, another part of the study, which asked respondents to name five countries that are the most unfriendly or hostile towards Russia, did.
The question has been asked by the Levada Center since 2005, and its results show that, since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Russians have generally been more likely to see Poland, Germany and the US as unfriendly or hostile than Ukraine.
However, the proportion regarding the US as unfriendly or hostile dropped sharply in 2025, with the Levada Center noting that last year saw a “Trump effect” in which attitudes towards the US warmed among Russians.
American Buddhist Net 