Russians Are Losing Interest in Foreign Policy, Poll Says

Less than half of Russians pay attention to foreign policy issues, according to a new poll by the state-run Foundation of Public Opinion (FOM) pollster.

Polling in recent years has suggested Russians are becoming less focused on endeavors abroad as the economy stagnates and living standards fall.

In the FOM poll published Friday, 49 percent of Russians said they are interested in foreign policy, while 50 percent said they don’t follow international events.

This is the first time since 2015 that the number of Russians who don’t follow foreign policy has outnumbered the share of Russians who do, FOM said.

Meanwhile, 33 percent of Russians said that the country’s leadership pays too much attention to foreign policy, a twofold increase from 2015. Another 39 percent say they believe their leaders pay the right amount of attention to foreign affairs and 12 percent say they don’t pay enough attention.

Russians were most interested in foreign policy in 2016, when 69 percent of respondents expressed an interest, FOM said.

FOM conducted its latest survey among 1,500 Russians in 53 regions in June.