Not everyone hates
Vladimir Putin the way the West does. Europe, and more so the United States, in
exercise of its hegemonic power over the global narrative has made it seem that
the Russian invasion of Ukraine has turned the once communist superpower into a
pariah nation. But the numbers tell a different story.

A survey conducted
by Alliance for Democracies found that most people in Asia were against cutting
economic and political ties with Russia. Latin America showed an even split.
Whereas in Europe, 55% were in favour of holistically slashing any
relationship.

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The negative view
of Russia is largely concentrated in Europe, the survey showed, showing that
the view the West takes on liberal democracies across the world is more an
assumption than fact. The survey, which is titled the Democracy Perception Index,
conducted annually, accounted for 52 highly-populated nations in Asia, Latin
America and Europe, and the United States.

The majority view
in at least 20 countries was that economic ties with Russia should not be cut
completely on account of the Ukraine war. These countries include: China, Israel,
Greece, Kenya, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Nigeria, Indonesia, South Africa,
Vietnam, Algeria, The Philippines, Mexico, Thailand, Morocco, Malaysia, Peru,
Hungary and Pakistan.

Nations with a
widely held positive view of Russia include India (36%). Indonesia (14%),
Algeria (29%), Morocco (4%) and Egypt (7%).

Colombia was
evenly split. In 31 countries, the opinion was that the relationship should be
snapped. However, 20 of these 31 countries are in Europe.

Countries with a
negative view of Russia are: Poland (87%), Ukraine (80%), Portugal (79%), UK
(65%), Sweden (77%), US (62%) and Germany (62%).

While the view on
Russia is not overwhelmingly negative, most nations did take a sympathetic view
of Ukraine. Nations submitted that the United States and the North Atlantic
Treaty Organization (NATO) could have done more to prevent the crisis in the
east European nation under siege.