The Germans are watching with concern the development of the situation in Ukraine, where Russian troops invaded on February 24 on the orders of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Against the background of the escalation of the conflict, the level of trust of German residents in Russia has dropped sharply, while in Ukraine and the United States it has increased. This is evidenced by the results of a representative survey published on Thursday, March 3, which was conducted by the sociological institute infratest dimap commissioned by the public-legal TV channel ARD.
According to this study, more and more people in Germany are afraid of a large-scale war in Europe. If in the summer of 2014 only about 30% of respondents experienced such fears, today it is already 70%.
77% of respondents are concerned that Russia may completely occupy Ukraine, about 70% fear Russian invasion of other countries. At the same time, more than two-thirds of survey participants (68%) believe that Germany has shown too much leniency towards Russian President Vladimir Putin in recent years.
Just over half of the respondents rated Berlin’s reaction to the events in Ukraine as proportionate, and about 30% believe that it could have been tougher.
German security policy
Russia’s war against Ukraine has also changed the attitude of many Germans towards security policy. Today, the people of Germany not only approve of the plans to strengthen the eastern frontier of NATO, but also support the intention of the country’s government to significantly increase the defense budget.
65% of respondents support the plans of the German authorities to allocate 100 billion euros for the rearmament of the Bundeswehr, even considering that this will have to increase the national debt. At the same time, 69% of respondents approve of an increase in annual German defense spending to 2% of GDP, with about half of them saying they changed their position after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The opinion that NATO plays today an important role in maintaining peace in Europe is shared by 83% of respondents.
Western sanctions against Russia, including disconnecting large Russian banks from the SWIFT international payment system and stopping the Nord Stream 2 certification process, are ready to be supported by residents of Germany, even if this leads to an increase in electricity and food prices, as well as problems for German business. At the same time, every second participant in the survey doubts that the restrictive measures of the West will force the Kremlin to change course.
Solidarity of Germans with Ukraine
The great solidarity of German residents with Ukraine is also evidenced by the fact that the vast majority of survey participants – 90% – agree that Germany should accept refugees from this country.
About 60% of respondents approve of the possibility of Ukraine joining the European Union in the long term. In March 2014, after the annexation of Ukrainian Crimea by Russia, this prospect was approved by 51% of respondents.
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