Russians Fear Foreign Wars More Than Anything: Poll Shows Trump-Putin Relationship Hasn't Soothed Concerns

As Russia remains in the middle of the bloody civil wars raging on in Ukraine and Syria, the most prevalent fear among its citizens today is the country engaging in "international conflicts," according to a survey from the state-run pollster VTsIOM Monday. The “index of fear,” which was developed by sociologists with the goal of finding out what Russians were most afraid of, ranked "inflating prices" as the second highest rated fear and “family problems” as the least.

The poll interviewed 1,600 Russian citizens in December 2016 across the country. The “index of fear” categorizes Russian citizens’ fears by points ranging between -100 and 100, according to the Moscow Times Monday.

In the same poll conducted lasted year, "international conflicts" were still what Russians feared the most, but while the numerical value signifying the country’s trepidations about global wars was recorded at 23 points in January 2016, it was recorded at 14 points Monday.

When an independent polling company called Levada conducted a similar poll in October 2016, it found that 48 percent of respondents feared that Russia’s role in the ongoing crisis in Syria could end up in a global military conflict—or nuclear catastrophe, the RT reported Monday. Thirty percent of those asked said Russia and the West could eventually come to a peaceful solution about Syria.

Western governments including the United States would like to see Syrian President Bashar al-Assad removed from power amid accusations that his military used chemical weapons on rebel forces throughout its civil war. While Moscow remains committed to helping Assad fight off opposing forces, the tide may have turned regarding the stark divide between Russian and the West over Syria on Saturday when President Donald Trump talked on the phone with Russian President Vladimir Putin about their nations helping each other to resolve the conflict.

Moscow also faces political opposition from the governments of European nations and the United States over accusations that it has provided military aid for pro-Russia separatist rebel groups in the southeastern part of the Ukraine, which The Kremlin has denied. While Trump has said he would consider dropping the sanctions the U.S. placed on Russia over its alleged role in Ukraine, the two leaders did not talk about the subject during their recent phone call.

Former President of the USSR Mikhail Gorbachev told Time Magazine Thursday that he too had concerns about a potential nuclear war. He said a compromise from Trump and Putin would be an important step toward creating a declaration banning nuclear war at the United Nations Security Council.

"I propose that the UN Security Council hold a meeting at the head of state-level and adopt a resolution declaring nuclear war to be unacceptable and that it must not be conducted,” Gorbachev told Time Magazine.