Sociologists associate better attitude towards Chechens with anti-Ukrainian propaganda

An image of the enemy, got by Russian citizens during the wars in Chechnya, fades away, and the propaganda has redirected xenophobia from Caucasians to Ukrainians, believe sociologists from the "Levada Centre".

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that the sociological survey published by the "Levada Centre" on August 27 pointed to a noticeable improvement in the attitude of Russian citizens towards natives of Chechnya in recent years.

"In the course of the Chechen war, natives of the Caucasus were perceived as an enemy. Meanwhile, at present, the above memory fades away," notes Karina Pipiya, a sociologist of the "Levada Centre". And she continues: "People more often believe there is calm and prosperous situation in Northern Caucasus, and against that background, the Russian citizens' attitude towards the Caucasian ethnic groups is improving."

The sociologist has associated one of the main discoveries of the latest research ‑ a significant improvement in the Russian citizens' attitude towards natives of Chechnya ‑ with the political events around Ukraine and Syria.

"The activities of Ramzan Kadyrov and his supporters [in that direction has led to the fact that] the Caucasus has ceased to be perceived as something alien. It seems that they all are united, they support joining of Crimea, and they are patriotic. Besides, the participation of the Ramzan Kadyrov's supporters in the Syrian conflict on the side of Russia in general produced a good impact on improvement in the Russian citizens' attitude towards the Caucasus and its natives," noted Karina Pipiya.

A sharp decrease in the negative attitude towards people from the Caucasus (from 54% in 2013 down to 27% in 2018) was strongly influenced by the powerful anti-Ukrainian propaganda, noted Lev Gudkov, the director of the "Levada Centre". "Xenophobia has been switched to Ukrainians, and the events in Northern and Southern Caucasus have receded into the background," Lev Gudkov said.

Under such conditions, allegations of a sharp improvement in the attitude towards the Caucasians will be erroneous, Lev Gudkov pointed out. "The former prejudices and negative attitude have been simply frozen. They plunged into a 'sleeping mode,' and the Ukrainophobia came forward," he noted.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on August 29, 2018 at 00:40 am MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.