The actions of the police and courts became the main fears of Russians amid the protests

According to the Public Relations Development Company (CROS), which annually composes the National Anxiety Index, in the first quarter of this year, among the most frightening events for Russians, the majority of respondents named fear of police actions, the outbreak of war and coronavirus, as well as the rise in food prices. protests and government pressure on social media.

“The top ten reasons for alarm also included the threat of 'revolution and upheaval' due to the situation around Alexei Navalny, aggravation of Russian-American relations and the armed conflict in Donbass, 'the invasion of wolves' in small settlements and floods", - Kommersant reports.

If at the end of last year, the residents of the country, first of all, were frightened by the drop in living standards, the low level of medicine and possible complications from vaccination, then at the beginning of 2021, fear of the actions of the police and courts in connection with mass protests came to the fore.

“According to the conclusions of the report, this topic was discussed in social networks 7.7 times more actively than in the media. The second place was taken by the fear of the "invasion of wolves" (discussed 5.9 times more actively), and the third - the threat of "revolution and upheaval" due to the situation around Alexey Navalny (3.7 times), "the newspaper notes.

More than others, residents of Moscow, St. Petersburg and the Novgorod region are concerned about the aggravation of the political situation and the situation with the state of human rights. And the problem of the "invasion of wolves" is most relevant for the Arkhangelsk, Omsk, Nizhny Novgorod, Smolensk, Pskov, Moscow, Kirov regions, the Republic of Komi, Karelia, Buryatia and other regions.

Many residents of the country note that they would not like the development of a revolutionary situation in Russia, but at the same time they are outraged by the excessively harsh reaction of security officials and courts to peaceful protests of unarmed residents. Experts emphasized that Russians have developed an all-consuming fear not of criminals, but of representatives of the state machine of coercive suppression, who overly harshly suppress the speeches of dissidents.

The general level of anxiety in the country is growing markedly. Even those people who disagree with the protesters have become afraid of the police, because they "try on what is happening on themselves and feel anxiety for their own safety".

As the director of VTsIOM Valery Fyodorov noted, anxiety increased especially among young people who do not watch TV, but draws all information from the Internet, “where the picture is more negative than on television. Therefore, her assessments of what is happening are more critical".