You may remember that in October, I posted a blog, linking a RIA Novosti-Persian poll which asked Iranians about their perceptions of Russia’s image. The poll results are now available. I thought you might find them interesting.
Of the 1,882 people who have so far participated in the poll, only 110 or 5.8% say they have a good image of Russia. Twenty nine people, or 1.5% have no opinion, and 1,743 or 92.6% say they have a bad image of Russia.
Another poll done by the same website in August of this year, asking people whether they think Russia was involved in Iran’s recent events had another set of shocking results. Of the 3,559 people who took the poll, 3,133 or 88% believed that Russia was involved, with 335 or 9.4% believing Russia did not have a role and 91, 2.6%, saying that they couldn’t give an exact opinion.
These days Iranians don’t think too highly of Russia, that’s for sure. Is that something new? I don’t think so, but certainly the recent events and Russia’s support of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and participation in further suppression of Iranian people through sales of surveillance and signal jamming technology to Iran, and providing “consulting” services on “crowd control” (read how to beat and arrest peaceful protesters), has not endeared Russians to Iranians.
