Russia for citizens personifies Putin and birches
The coat of arms, flag and anthem of the Russian Federation are its symbols for the majority of citizens surveyed by the All-Russian Public Opinion Survey (VTsIOM). 12% of respondents answered the open question of sociologists in this way. Another 11% said that Russia personifies “the people and people” for them, another 10% – “homeland and home”.
At the same time, 7% of respondents confidently associate President Vladimir Putin. It was called as often as “nature”, “Baikal” and “birch”. For 6% of citizens, Russia is a great power, strength and power. 5% of Russians associate our country with a bear. Unity and brotherhood, kindness and love, as well as the army and navy were named by another 4% of Russians. At the same time, every third Russian (27%) could not give an answer at all to the question of what Russia represents for him (27%). Russia is usually associated with “home and motherland” among older Russians (15%). Among respondents aged 18–24, associations with the people, people (14%), nature (11%), and Putin (10%) are more common. Men gave the answer “army and navy” 3 times more often than (6% vs. 2%).
“For our fellow citizens, the word “Russia” evokes only a favorable association, the semantic field of food with topics: nature, history, architectural symbols, cities, animals, culture, literature, territory, army, etc.,” the authors of the study note. Part of the population involuntarily picked up the idea of State Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin that “if there is Putin, there is Russia, if there is no Putin, there is no Russia,” says social psychologist Alexei Roshchin: “The people have learned this and repeat it.” Sociologist Denis Volkov believes that this can be interpreted as the results of the poll more important: the president named the answer to such a question because it represents the international arena. “This is really part of our history and our present,” Volkov says.
The survey was timed to coincide with the National Flag Day. In 2022, 70%, 66% and 60% of Russians, respectively, answered questions about their attitude to the anthem, flag and coat of arms, about “pride and condemnation”, respectively. These feelings about professional employees are often seen in men over the age of 35. the most frequent initiation and initiation of proceedings against state representatives refers to older women, rural environments. There are frequent cases of the appearance of feelings in young people living in Moscow and St. Petersburg. Residents of Moscow and St. Petersburg often speak of indifference to the listed state symbols. The last time VTsIOM conducted a similar study was in 2019, when more Russians were also proud of the national anthem (64%) than the flag (61%) and coat of arms (57%).
“There has not been a sharp increase in emotional attachment to natural symbols – the background value of abrupt time (7–8 years) is stable and at a high level,” says Stepan Lvov, director of strategic development at VTsIOM.