July 11, 2008 - 18:50 AMT
37 per cent of Russians say Turkey exercised political program of extermination of Armenians
The Yuri Levada Analytical Centre has conducted a social survey which showed that 37 per cent of Russians are convinced that the Ottoman Empire exercised a political program of extermination of Armenians.

According to 13 per cent of the respondents, the information about the Armenian Genocide is exaggerated. 33 per cent have never heard of the Genocide.

Levada experts also fixed that nationalistic attitude of mind tends to gain weight in Russia. In 2006, asked "whether hatred for foreigners has developed," 47 out of 100 respondents said "yes." In 2007, there were 55 out of 100 to confirm the fact.

50 per cent of Russians support the "Russia for Russians" ideology. 26 per cent eye the tendency as "demonstration of fascism."

Moscow-based sociologists note that Russians are in sympathy with only 11 per cent of Caucasus and Asia-natives.

As to nations, Russians strongly dislike Gypsies, Chechens and Azeris. 43 per cent hate Gypsies, 39 per cent hate Chechens and 2 per cent hate Azeris.

According to the survey, Russians eye Belarus, Kazakhstan, Germany, China and Armenia as friendly countries.

It's worth noting that in 2005 only 9 per cent of Russians believed Armenia to be a friendly state. In autumn 2007, the figure reached 15 per cent, IA Regnum reports.