USA No Longer Russia's Prime Enemy, Public Survey Finds

France has taken the top spot among countries that Russians consider most hostile to Russia, surpassing the United States, which previously held that position.

Photo: commons.wikimedia.org by Leosmedley, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

US flags

The findings come from a survey conducted by the state-run VCIOM polling center on Russia’s relations with other countries. Respondents were asked which countries currently have the most tense and hostile relations with Russia.

• France was named most frequently, cited by 48% of respondents. In 2022, only 21% of Russians viewed France as an enemy.
• The UK ranked second on the list of hostile countries (42%),
• Germany comes third (41%)
• whereas Ukraine ranked fourth (38%).

In previous years, the United States consistently held the title of Russia’s main adversary, according to public opinion — in 2022, 76% of Russians named the US as the primary enemy. However, in 2025, only 27% of respondents consider the US a hostile state.

Russians continue to view China (65%) and Belarus (41%) as Russia’s closest allies.

Details

Russian Public Opinion Research Center (Russian: Всероссийский центр изучения общественного мнения, romanized: Vserossiysky tsentr izucheniya obshchestvennogo mneniya, abbr. ВЦИОМ, VCIOM) is a state-owned polling institution established in 1987, known as the All-Union Center for the Study of Public Opinion until 1992. VCIOM is the oldest polling institution in post-Soviet Russia and one of Russia's leading sociological and market research companies. It was established in 1987 under the decree issued by VCSPS (All-Union Central Council of Trade Unions) and USSR State Committee of Labor as the All-Union Public Opinion Research Center (and in 1992 renamed the Russian Public Opinion Research Center). In 2003 VCIOM became an 'open joint-stock company with full state ownership'. VCIOM conducts "full cycle" marketing, social and political research, from instrument design and data collection to analysis and presentation of findings to its clients.