Majority of Citizens See Influence of China, Russia as Positive, that of EU, U.S. as Negative

People (Pixabay)

The majority of Serbian citizens believe Russia and China have had a positive influence on Serbia in recent years, while they consider the impact of the U.S., European Union and NATO to have been negative, reveals public opinion research by the Center for Free Elections and Democracy (CESID) and the International Republican Institute, presented on Oct. 31.

"It is for this reason that most citizens believe that Serbia currently has the best relations with China and Russia. The European Union comes third. When citizens were asked to name the states with which Serbia should have the best relations, Russia and China were again on top, followed by neighboring countries and the European Union," the research report reads.

This subjective feeling of Serbia citizens of greater closeness to China and Russia than the European Union and U.S. resurfaces in their opinions on donations and aid to Serbia, economics and investments, EU integration, health and science, the report added.

"Even in areas like donations and assistance to Serbia, where the European Union, followed by the U.S., lead the field, the citizens are convinced that aid from Russia and China was greater. Moreover, respondents expressed their faith in Chinese investments and infrastructure projects, placed the Chinese and Russian vaccines above 'Western' ones, and ranked the Russian economy above the U.S.," the report notes, adding that a high level of Euroskepticism was noticeable.