Russians identify Poland and Lithuania as their greatest enemies

Russians regard Poland and Lithuania as their greatest enemies among a list of 12 countries (not including Ukraine) presented to them in a survey by the Levada Center, an independent polling organisation.

Asked how they assess the countries, 62% of respondents said that Poland and Lithuania are “enemies”. That was more than for the United Kingdom (57%), Germany (50%), Sweden (40%), United States (27%), Israel (25%), Turkey (3%), Iran (2%), North Korea (2%), China (1%) and India (1%).

Meanwhile, only 2% of Russians see Poland as a “friend”, the same proportion as for the UK and Sweden. The figure was even lower, at 1%, for Lithuania, Germany, and the US. Russians were much more likely to see China (29%), North Korea (28%), India (24%) and Iran (18%) as friends.

While that survey question did not include Ukraine, another part of the study, which asked respondents to name five countries that are the most unfriendly or hostile towards Russia, did.

The question has been asked by the Levada Center since 2005, and its results show that, since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Russians have generally been more likely to see Poland, Germany and the US as unfriendly or hostile than Ukraine.

However, the proportion regarding the US as unfriendly or hostile dropped sharply in 2025, with the Levada Center noting that last year saw a “Trump effect” in which attitudes towards the US warmed among Russians.

Another survey question, asking specifically how Russians view their country’s relations with Poland, found that, up to 2010, a majority of between 50% and 80% consistently rated them as “good” and only 20% to 40% as “bad”.

That question was not asked between 2011 and 2024, but now the figures have been completely reversed. In 2024, 74% of Russians perceived relations with Poland negatively, and only 16% positively.

Meanwhile, asked in 2025 which countries “pose a real threat to Russia’s stability and global influence”, Poland was the third most common answer, chosen by 36%, behind only the United States (73%) and United Kingdom (42%) but ahead of Germany (30%).

The findings were part of a new report, titled Russia and the World: Enemies, Competitors, Partners, conducted by the Levada Center on behalf of the German Sakharov Society and presented in Berlin on Tuesday.

The Levada Center has been monitoring public sentiment in Russia for almost 40 years. Since 2016, it has been included on the Kremlin’s list of “foreign agents” after it published polling ahead of that year’s elections indicating declining support for Putin’s United Russia party.

The German Sakharov Society notes that the report’s findings show how the Kremlin uses “anti-Western demagoguery and militarisation in all areas of life…[to] keep Russian society on a war course and ensure its own continued power”.

The findings also come amid a period of increased tension between Poland and Russia. Warsaw has been one of Ukraine’s closest allies amid the ongoing war. Meanwhile, Moscow has orchestrated a campaign of sabotage, espionage, cyberattacks and disinformation in Poland.

The latter actions have prompted Poland to successively close down all of Russia’s consulates in the country, with Moscow then doing the same with Poland’s consulates.

Earlier this month, Russia advised its citizens against travelling to Poland because of “Russophobic sentiments” and “persecution of Russian citizens”. However, most Russians are banned from entering Poland in any case.

An international study by the Pew Research Center in 2022 found that Poles held the most negative views of Russia among all countries surveyed. Only 2% of Poles held a favourable view, while 97% had an unfavourable opinion.