The Levada Center has again measured Russians’ attitudes toward some of their countries’ foes (and one friend) and the results come as no surprise.

Almost half of the respondents to the center’s January 2026 poll said they had a negative attitude toward the U.S., reaffirming that the brief period when more Russians had a positive view of this country than a negative one last year, is over. As many as 45% of these respondents said “bad” when asked “How do you generally feel now about the United States of America?” by this Russian pollster, which shared a detailed breakdown of the results of the recent polls on Russians’ attitudes toward the U.S., EU, Ukraine and China with Russia Matters. The Jan. 15-23, 2026, result of 45% of respondents with a negative opinion of the U.S. was three percentage points above the historical average of 42% for such measurements since Levada began polling post-Soviet Russians on that question in 1992. (That year, as many as 74% of Russians viewed the U.S. in a positive light). Whether and when more Russians may warm up to Americans again may, in part, depend on whether U.S.-mediated peace talks on the Russia-Ukraine war end on conditions suitable enough for Moscow. 

An acceptable outcome of these talks could also affect Russians’ attitudes toward the European Union. In the meantime, in January 2026, an even greater share of Russians expressed a negative attitude toward the European Union (58%), which, like the U.S., has been assisting Ukraine for most of the war that Russia began in February 2022. That share of “EU haters” was 19 percentage points above the historical average of 39% of Russians who expressed negative attitudes toward this union. Yet an even greater share of Russians had a negative attitude toward Ukraine itself in January 2026 at 64%, which was 25 percentage points above the historical average.

Finally, of the three countries and one union toward which Levada measured attitudes in Russia in January 2026, China stood apart, as positive attitudes toward this country among Russians have remained above 80% since March 2022, reflecting Russia’s deepening partnership with this country, according to Levada’s data.¹

Endnotes

1. One should also not forget that Russia’s slide toward a hard authoritarianism has led to the criminalization of freedom of speech on issues related to the war, among other things. This cannot help influencing what a Russian living in Russia says to others, including pollsters.

Photo: A man walks past a billboard promoting contract military service in the Russian army's unmanned systems units, in St. Petersburg, Russia, Wednesday, Feb. 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Dmitri Lovetsky)