The majority of those surveyed in Russia have declared against influx of migrants.
Findings of a public opinion poll conducted by Levada-Center show that 66 percent of those surveyed consider that the authorities should restrict the influx of migrants.
They said they would support restrictions on immigration for certain nationalities and peoples, in particular, citizens of the ex-Soviet republics of Central Asia, Chinese and Roma people.
Only 23 percent of those surveyed said that the government should not try to restrict the flow of migrants into the country, but try to use this for the country's benefit.
Of the respondents, 18 percent said they would support the government restricting residence permits for any ethnic groups apart from ethnic Russians, while 21 percent, which is the highest since the polling was held for the first time in 2005, said that they were not interested in these types of measures and ideas.
Levada also noted in the commentary to its survey that the aggregate indicator of “ethno-phobic” feelings among Russian citizens has decreased to low levels from the unusually high levels registered over the past few years.
Levada-Center is a Russian independent, non-governmental polling and sociological research organization. It is named after its founder, the first Russian professor of sociology Yuri Levada (1930—2006). Levada-Center traces back its history to 1987 when the All-Union Public Opinion Research Center (VTsIOM) was founded, originally headed by Academician Tatyana Zaslavskaya. Being one of the largest Russian research companies, the Levada-Center regularly conducts its own and commissioned polling and marketing research.
