Survey: Bulgarians are the Biggest Fans of Putin and Orban in the EU

One year after the start of Russian aggression against Ukraine, almost a third (32%) of Bulgarians have a positive attitude towards Vladimir Putin. Almost twice as many (60%) are those with a negative opinion of him, according to a sociological survey among 8 Eastern European countries, published a few days ago by the Slovak research institute GLOBSEC (in Bulgaria it was conducted by "Alfa Research").

In the company of the citizens of Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, Lithuania and Latvia, the Bulgarians demonstrate the greatest sympathy for Putin. In Hungary, where Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has spoken out in support of Moscow, struck new gas deals with Russia and repeatedly blocked EU sanctions, a fifth (21%) of the population likes Putin and 71% have a negative view of him.

The authors of the annual report on trends in Eastern Europe quoted Rumena Filipova of the Institute for Global Analysis as saying:

"Regardless of the Kremlin's war in Ukraine, Putin enjoys high approval ratings in Bulgaria compared to other European countries. This is partly due to the dominance of Russian propaganda in Bulgaria, reinforcing pro-Russian sentiment and preventing an objective public debate on the issue. As a result, Bulgarians remain divided in their opinion on the conflict and even on the question of who is responsible for starting the war."

Only in Bulgaria and Slovakia, less than half of the respondents blame Russia. In Hungary, those condemning Moscow for the aggression increased in a year to 54% (those blaming the West are 19%). 44% of Bulgarians believe that Russia is to blame for the war in Ukraine (down from 50% in 2022) 32% are convinced that the West is to blame for provoking Russia (another 15% believe...