The main thing is vodka and bears. What in the minds of Russians do foreigners think of the country?

An interesting study was conducted by VTsIOM (The All-Russian Public Opinion Research Center), trying to find out how, in the opinion of our compatriots, foreigners relate to Russia. It turned out that positive and negative attitudes, according to Russians, are divided almost equally: 42% believe that they treat us well abroad, and 39% - that it is bad.

And here is what most often, according to our citizens' conviction, foreigners remember when it comes to Russia:

Bear 11%

Vodka 11%

Putin 10%

Cold 6%

Hospitality 4%

Poverty 3%

Infinity 3%

Culture 3%

Balalaika 3%

Matryoshka 3%

Benevolence 3%

Surprisingly, culture occupies one of the last places here. That is, the Russians themselves do not even assume that foreigners may be interested in Dostoevsky with Tolstoy and Chekhov, or Tchaikovsky's ballet and music. But it is Dostoevsky and Tolstoy who are among the top most widely read authors in the world, and Tchaikovsky is generally the most popular composer. But not they, not even Gagarin or Russian rhythmic gymnastics, in the opinion of Russians, the rest of the world is not interested. Is this not the best evidence of the state of mind of Russian society?

This regrettable fact is confirmed by the following figures: according to our compatriots, Russia's influence on the international arena is based primarily on military power (67%) and Putin's personal authority (47%), and only then on sporting success (31% ), cultural heritage (30%) and achievements in science and technology (23%).

Moreover, over the past three years, the ratio of answers to this question has not changed.