{"id":14555,"date":"2014-03-04T16:00:49","date_gmt":"2014-03-04T21:00:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/short-reads\/%year%\/%monthnum%\/%day%\/many-russians-agree-that-it-is-natural-for-them-to-have-an-empire\/"},"modified":"2024-04-14T03:22:48","modified_gmt":"2024-04-14T08:22:48","slug":"many-russians-agree-that-it-is-natural-for-them-to-have-an-empire","status":"publish","type":"short-read","link":"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/short-reads\/2014\/03\/04\/many-russians-agree-that-it-is-natural-for-them-to-have-an-empire\/","title":{"rendered":"Many Russians agree that it is natural for them to have an empire"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignright\"><a href=\"https:\/\/assets.pewresearch.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2014\/03\/FT_Russians_SovietUnion.png\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-255992\" alt=\"Russians views on empire and the Soviet Union.\" src=\"https:\/\/assets.pewresearch.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2014\/03\/FT_Russians_SovietUnion.png\" ><\/a><\/figure>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Recent events in Ukraine, including the ouster of the pro-Russian President Viktor F. Yanukovych and moves by Vladimir Putin\u2019s military forces to <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2014\/03\/05\/world\/europe\/ukraine.html?hp&amp;_r=0\">seize control<\/a> of the Crimea region, have brought renewed attention to Russia\u2019s historical claims in its former Soviet empire. To that effect, a spring 2012 survey by the <a href=\"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/global\/2012\/05\/23\/russians-back-protests-political-freedoms-and-putin-too\/\">Pew Research Center<\/a> found that 44% of Russians agreed that it is natural for Russia to have an empire. Two decades prior, with the Soviet Union on the verge of collapse, only 37% shared this view.<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Thoughts of empire might help explain why in 2011, 20 years after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, <a href=\"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/global\/2011\/12\/05\/confidence-in-democracy-and-capitalism-wanes-in-former-soviet-union\/\">half of Russians agreed<\/a> that it was a great misfortune that the USSR no longer existed. Russians aged 50 and older tended to express more longing for the Soviet era than did those under 50.<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">However, it is not clear that nostalgia for empire means average Russians are eager to get embroiled in the affairs of neighboring states. For instance, a recent <a href=\"http:\/\/wciom.ru\/index.php?id=459&amp;uid=114720\">February poll<\/a> by the Russian Public Opinion Research Center (VCIOM), a prominent public opinion organization based in Moscow, found that 73% of Russians preferred to stay out of the Ukrainian conflict, with only 15% saying Russia should step in to prevent the ouster of then-President Yanukovych.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In a spring 2012 survey, 44% of Russians agreed that a Russian empire is natural.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"sub_headline":null,"sub_title":"","_prc_public_revisions":[],"_ppp_expiration_hours":0,"_ppp_enabled":false,"ai_generated_summary":"","apple_news_api_created_at":"","apple_news_api_id":"","apple_news_api_modified_at":"","apple_news_api_revision":"","apple_news_api_share_url":"","apple_news_cover_media_provider":"image","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_cover_video_id":0,"apple_news_cover_video_url":"","apple_news_cover_embedwebvideo_url":"","apple_news_is_hidden":false,"apple_news_is_paid":"","apple_news_is_preview":false,"apple_news_is_sponsored":"","apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"apple_news_api_pending":"1713063888","relatedPosts":[],"datacite_doi":"","datacite_doi_citation":"","_prc_seo_qr_attachment_id":0,"spoken_article_player_enabled":true,"displayBylines":true,"footnotes":"","prc_watchers":[],"_prc_fork_parent":0,"_prc_fork_status":"","_prc_active_fork":0},"categories":[446],"bylines":[624],"collection":[],"datasets":[],"_post_visibility":[],"formats":[467],"_fund_pool":[],"languages":[],"regions-countries":[514,508],"research-teams":[525],"workflow-status":[],"class_list":["post-14555","short-read","type-short-read","status-publish","hentry","category-global-balance-power","bylines-jacob-poushter","formats-short-read","regions-countries-international","regions-countries-russia","research-teams-global"],"label":"Short Read","post_parent":0,"word_count":205,"canonical_url":"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/short-reads\/2014\/03\/04\/many-russians-agree-that-it-is-natural-for-them-to-have-an-empire\/","art_direction":{"A1":{"id":27057,"rawUrl":"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2014\/03\/FT_Russians_SovietUnion.png","url":false,"width":309,"height":244,"chartArt":false},"A2":{"id":27057,"rawUrl":"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2014\/03\/FT_Russians_SovietUnion.png","url":false,"width":268,"height":151,"chartArt":false},"A3":{"id":27057,"rawUrl":"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2014\/03\/FT_Russians_SovietUnion.png","url":false,"width":194,"height":110,"chartArt":false},"A4":{"id":27057,"rawUrl":"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2014\/03\/FT_Russians_SovietUnion.png","url":false,"width":268,"height":151,"chartArt":false},"XL":{"id":27057,"rawUrl":"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2014\/03\/FT_Russians_SovietUnion.png","url":false,"width":309,"height":244,"chartArt":false},"social":{"id":27057,"rawUrl":"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2014\/03\/FT_Russians_SovietUnion.png","url":false,"width":309,"height":244,"chartArt":false}},"_embeds":[],"watchers":[],"table_of_contents":[],"datacite_doi":"","prc_seo_data":{"title":"Many Russians agree that it is natural for them to have an empire","description":"44% of Russians agreed that it is natural for Russia to have an empire. 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