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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsMost Russians Oppose Sending Troops To Syria. Slim plurality support sending arms.
More than two-thirds of Russians oppose sending troops to Syria to prop up President Bashar al-Assads government, while a majority approve of Moscows use of diplomatic and political channels to help its embattled ally in the Middle East, according to a respected independent pollster.
At a time when the Kremlin has been ramping up its military presence in Syria, its largest deployment outside the former Soviet Union in decades, the poll by the Levada Center found that only 14 percent of Russians believe Russia should provide direct military support for the Syrian government by sending in troops.
The Levada poll said that 69 percent either firmly oppose or probably oppose deploying troops to help the Syrian leadership, while 67 percent back Russian political and diplomatic support for Assads government.
It said that 43 percent support providing Damascus with weapons and military consultation as Moscow has been doing throughout a more than four-year conflict that has killed some 250,000 people while 41 percent oppose it.
http://www.juancole.com/2015/09/russians-oppose-sending.html
I would not have guessed that only 43% of Russians support providing weapons to Assad with 41% opposed.
Nuclear Unicorn
(19,497 posts)raccoon
(31,126 posts)SidDithers
(44,228 posts)Sid
leveymg
(36,418 posts)What to make of that discrepancy? Reminds me of the Iraq War Resolution vote.
geek tragedy
(68,868 posts)leveymg
(36,418 posts)If I recall, there were a bunch of apartment houses blown up in Russia just before that. But, Russia was then in no position to do anything about it, particularly with the US standing behind the Saudis, which Russia knew was sponsoring AQ and the Chechens and Dagestani terrorists. Call it state supported terrorism by proxy. We got a taste of that, as well, and could again.
NuclearDem
(16,184 posts)leveymg
(36,418 posts)Your conception of the way the world works is somewhat out of date.
NuclearDem
(16,184 posts)leveymg
(36,418 posts)That has been enough to get you killed by the Okhrana going back to 1712.
Nemtsov wasn't just any Member of the Duma:
Of course, Russia isn't the only place in the world where opposition leaders and reformers have been assassinated.