Muscovites and citizens of St. Petersburg feel a greater connection with Russians, Belarusians and Ukrainians and the least positive feelings for people from the Caucasus region, according to an opinion poll published by the All-Russian Public Opinion Research Center on Tuesday.
“Citizens of Moscow and St. Petersburg feel the greatest ethnic affinity with Russians (44 and 52 percent), second place goes to Belarusians (17 and 14 percent) and Ukrainians take the third place (15 and 11 percent),” the statement said.
Residents of both Russian capitals feel the most antipathy toward Caucasus natives (31 percent in Moscow, 28 percent in St. Petersburg), followed by Tajiks (23 and 24 percent).
The opinion poll comes a day after the Nezavisimaya Gazeta daily newspaper published an article written by Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin on modern problems of multiethnic Russia. The article is a part of his election program. Noting that internal migration in Russia has been actively underway in recent years, the premier said migrants should respect the customs and traditions of regions they come to live in and that any aggressive or disrespectful behavior should be properly addressed by authorities.
Many journalists and bloggers criticized Putin's article as being amateurish and overly-simplistic in its evaluation of the situation in Russia.
Mutual hostility between Russians and the peoples of the Caucasus goes back centuries, to the times when Russia invaded the region in the seventeenth century, encountering fierce resistance that never entirely went away. Most recently, the war in Chechnya and subsequent terrorist attacks in the region and elsewhere in Russia have worsened relations.
