Over 50% Of Russians Think US Is 'A Threat' To Russia As NATO Leaders Push For Peace In Ukraine

A new poll has revealed that more than half of Russia believes the United States has become a threat to their country. Relations between the U.S. and Russia had deteriorated in the past year over the ongoing conflict in Ukraine.

Levada Center, a Russian non-governmental research organisation, conducted the survey and the results were published in the local daily Izvestia. Nearly 60 percent of Russians feel threatened by the U.S. compared to the 47 percent recorded in 2007. Only 32 percent disagreed that the U.S. was a threat, which is less than the 42 percent of Russians who expressed the same sentiment eight years ago.

When asked if the U.S. and Russia would ever go to war against each other, more than half of the respondents said they did not believe it would happen. One-third of Russians believe if a war will indeed erupt between the two countries, they said Russia would be the “winner.” Only five percent of the respondents think the U.S. would win.

U.S.-Russia relations are at their lowest in over two decades as Washington has accused Moscow of being involved in the crisis in eastern Ukraine. Russian President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly denied the accusations. The U.S. and its allies had imposed several rounds of sanctions against Russia over the crisis and as a response, Moscow has decided to declare food bans on the U.S., European Union, Australia, Canada and Norway in August 2014, reports Press TV.

For a growing number of Americans, Russia is viewed as the greatest enemy of the U.S. A Gallup poll had previously asked U.S. residents to name one country that could be a threat to their own. Russia had the highest number of votes at 18 percent compared to only two percent in the same poll in 2013.

Meanwhile, NATO leaders had warned Mr Putin to implement a peace deal to end the fighting in Ukraine as soon as possible. The Russian president had met with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry earlier in the week and raised hopes of repairing damaged relations, reports Moscow Times.

Kerry said in the a meeting with NATO foreign ministers in the southern Turkish city of Antalya that it was “critical” for Russia to fulfill its obligations in the ceasefire agreement forged in Minsk earlier in the year. He added that there was an “enormous moment of opportunity” to put an end to the fighting in eastern Ukraine.

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