#14 - JRL 7232
Britons think worse of Russians than Russians think of Britons - poll

MOSCOW. June 19 (Interfax) - Most Britons associate Russia with snow, fur hats, poverty, long lines, vodka and mafia, according to a Public Opinion Fund poll taken to determine the opinion of Britons about Russia and Russians of Britain and its people.

The results of the poll timed to the state visit of President Vladimir Putin to Britain were disclosed by fund president Alexander Oslon at a Thursday news conference in Moscow.

On the basis of the poll taken in Russia and Britain he said that Britons have many more stereotypes about Russians than Russians have about Britons.

For Britons typical Russians are poor, submissive, hard working, aggressive and brutal but at the same time well educated and with a sense of humor.

Most Russians think Britons to be gentlemen, conservative, rational, pragmatic, well-off and enterprising people.

Asked what comes to mind when one hears the word "Russia," 12% of Britons did not know what to say, while in Russia 39% could say nothing of Britain.

In the same poll 52% of Britons could not answer the question of who the current president of Russia is, and 45% recognized Putin as Russia's leader. The rest were divided, with half thinking Boris Yeltsin is the current president and the other half that it is Mikhail Gorbachev.