Russians mostly associate Poles with Smolensk air disaster

The report shows that Russian society lacks knowledge about Poland, and does not have one prevailing attitude towards their neighbours.

A preliminary report by the institute, released before Poland take on Russia in Euro 2012, shows that Poles are, in general, perceived by Russians as open and friendly people and kindred Slavs.

Thirty-one percent of the respondents see Poland as a country sharing common cultural and linguistic roots. In terms of politics, Poland remains outside their sphere of interest, as more attention is directed further to the West.

“[Russians] don’t pay too much attention to us, and they don’t think much about Poland, which may be a blow to the Polish ego,” says institute director, Jacek Kucharczyk

“Russians are more concerned with Germany, its role in Europe, and they have more clear-cut opinions about the German society. In the case of Poland these views are more diversified, both in terms of positive and less favourable convictions,” he adds.

Meanwhile, the plane crash killing president Lech Kaczyński and 95 others on 10 April 2010 has surfaced as the key connotation Russians have with Poland (nine percent of the respondents).

It is an event which they believe has been detrimental to the bilateral relations between the countries.

Poland and Russia share a long and thorny history of relations. One the most controversial events to date is the 1940 massacre during World War II, where over 22,000 Polish officers were murdered on Stalin’s orders in the Katyn forest in Russia – an event for which the Soviet regime denied responsibility for decades.

The Smolensk air disaster, which killed many top parliamentary, military and religious officials, added to the list of accusations flung against Russian authorities, with conspiracy theories pointing to assassination surfacing from the conservative circles on Poland’s political arena. (aba/pg)