US is Russia's enemy number one: poll

The United States is seen as Russia's prime foreign enemy according to a poll by the nation's Public Opinion Foundation.

Among the 1500 respondents across the country, 68 per cent was convinced Russia had enemies abroad that could start a war, while 25 percent said that the chief enemy was the United States.

Of the countries US President George Bush labeled two years ago as the "axis of evil" - Iran, Iraq, and North Korea - only two percent saw Iraq as an enemy, one percent saw a threat coming from Iran, and one percent from Asian countries including North Korea and Vietnam.

Only 7 percent of those polled by the Foundation last week said the threat came from Arab countries or Islamic groups. Another 7 per cent

said the threat came from Chechnya. A mere 5 percent named terrorists as the number one threat.

Three per cent respondents named China and one percent Pakistan as the source of threat to Russia. Responding to a question about who is Russia's friend, 22 per cent named former Soviet republics followed by Germany (16 per cent), France (12 per cent), the US (8 per cent) and China (7 per cent).

India was named as Russia's friend only by three per cent respondents.

The poll, results of which were published on the foundation's website, also asked the respondents to describe how they felt about Russia's image abroad. Nearly half - 46 percent - said that Russia had a poor image abroad, while 40 percent said Russia had a positive image.