A total of 26 percent of Romanians are very much afraid of a possible conflict between Romania and Russia, while 24 percent are not at all afraid of such a conflict, according to a recent study conducted by the Romanian Institute for Evaluation and Strategy IRES.

On a scale from 1 to 10, where 1 represents “not at all afraid” and 10 is “very much afraid”, 47 percent of the respondents were between 6 and 10, while 35 percent were between 1 and 4, indicating a low sense of fear.

However, over half of the respondents (59 percent) believe that the risk for a conflict to start between Romania and Russia in the next six months is small and very small, while only 27 percent consider this risk to be high or very high.

Some 46 percent of the respondents state that Romania is wrong to criticize Russia for the invasion in Crimea, while 40 percent say Romania is right when criticizing Russia.

According to the same study, most Romanians, namely 67 percent, believe that NATO would defend Romania in a possible conflict with Russia.

The IRES study was conducted on March 26, 2014, on a sample of 1,446 individuals aged 18 and over 18.

Irina Popescu, irina.popescu@romania-insider.com

(photo source: sxc.hu)