Again and again, Austrian political experts emphasize in various TV talks that “the majority of Russians would not support Vladimir Putin’s aggression towards Western nations”, that the war in Ukraine is unpopular.
Now, however, a new survey by the opinion research institute “Active Group” shows a completely different picture: 86% (!) of the Russians surveyed would definitely be in favor of a military confrontation with one of the EU countries – they “approve and support possible attacks by the Russian army the territory of the European Union”. Among them: Poland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Czech Republic, Slovakia. And “other” too…
And Russian citizens polled by Active Group now confirm the concerns of Polish people: 75.5% of Russians would like Poland to be the next target of an invasion. This is the "logical continuation of the Russian Federation's military special operation".
Bulgaria and Austria's neighboring countries of the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary would be a next target for 39.6% of those surveyed (multiple answers were possible).
Another interesting detail: 46% of respondents are “absolutely certain” that the Russian government should attack the EU, and 40.6% think that escalating hostilities into EU territory is “acceptable”.
What Europe should not ignore: Only 25.5% of the Russians surveyed are categorically opposed to the use of nuclear weapons. 40.3% consider a nuclear attack to be “absolutely acceptable”, and 34.3% of respondents would still support such a decision by the Russian government.
Presumably the Kremlin also has such results from pollsters as the data published here by the Ukrainian "Active Group" - this makes some of the Russian government's actions much more understandable.
