In June 2008, the Левада (Levada) Research Center released the ninth edition of its annual report on Russian public opinion, for the year 2007. The nineteenth section of the report is specifically concerned with ethnic relations in Russia, and the Russians' attitudes towards foreigners.

In general, the Russian population does not single out one ethnicity as different from the others: for instance, 75% believe that the Americans are "like any others', 78% think this of the Arabs, and 84% have an "even' attitude towards the Jews. This is less true however for the Chechens (who are an annoyance for 22% of the interviewees and are feared and distrusted by 19%) and of the Gypsies (who are disliked by 25% and feared and distrusted by 18%). Apart from the Azerbaijanis (considered "even, like any others' by 71%, but an "annoyance' by 18%), no other former USSR citizens are especially considered as a category in the research.

The interviewees also did not report the presence of ethnic tensions in their respective regions, and only 14% have heard of ethnic clashes near where they live. However, half of the respondents believe that mass ethnic conflict is probable in their country nowadays, and as much as 32% (7% "definite yes' and 25% "yes, rather than no') think that people of "non-Russian' origin are to blame for Russia's misfortunes today.

The Russians' reproaches towards the ethnic minorities are some of the most interesting results of the study for the month of April 2007: 45% of the respondents thought that minorities "sell more at local markets and do not let locals sell there'; 36% thought that "non-Russians' are not grateful for living on Russian territory, and 42% felt that the ethnic minorities demonstrate insulting behavior; many Russians also believe that non-Russians are richer, have greater power (such as more connections to the police), and have even better access to housing and education. 50% of the interviewees (15% definitely, 35% yes, within reasonable limits') support the idea "Russia for the Russians' and 54% would like the government to "state officially that Russia is a state of the Russian people where all non-Russians and non-citizens can live and work only on certain terms and their influence will be clearly restricted'.

On the presence of ultra-right groups in Russian society, more than half (55%) said that the year 2007 showed a numerical increase, while only 10% believed that there were fewer such groups active. The level of information about the activity and identity of extremist organizations is however very limited. 70% have never ever heard of the DPNI (The Movement against Illegal Immigration) and of the :Russian March;. Furthermore, the Russians do not necessarily consider the activity of these groups as a phenomenon: 44% are convinced that the 2007 attacks in Moscow, Kondopoga and Stavropol are "single incidents which will not bring about serious results'.

The conclusion to be drawn from the study is that there is a potential in certain segments of Russian society for discontent with the presence of "non-Russian' people in Russia, a potential that is believed to be successfully exploited by the recruiters of ultra-right organizations. Nevertheless, the existence of this potential owes largely to the lack of knowledge with respect to the identity, the type of ideology, and the gravity of the activities, of the extremist groups, as well as with certain misconceptions and prejudice towards "non-Russians'.

The complete report is available for download in English here