MOSCOW, September 10 (RIA Novosti) – Russians are split about whether the international community should intervene in the Syrian civil war, according to a survey by the Public Opinion Foundation.
A total of 32 percent of respondents said Russia should intervene, while 35 percent said there should be no intervention, and 19 percent did not know.
Fourteen percent of respondents were unaware of the current situation in Syria, and they were not asked to respond the question of Russian intervention.
Some 38 percent of respondents said they knew about the Syrian civil war, 46 percent said they had heard something about it, 14 percent had not heard about it before, and 2 percent did not know what to answer.
Asked whom they support in Syria, 40 percent showed no support for anyone, 28 percent said they backed the Syrian government, 5 percent supported the rebels, and 14 percent found it difficult to answer the question.
Forty percent said Russia should not interfere in the Syrian conflict, 18 percent would back the Syrian government, 2 percent would give support to rebels, and 25 percent did not know. The question was not asked to respondents (14 percent) unaware of the current situation in Syria.
Washington is currently contemplating a strike on Syria as retaliation for a deadly August 21 chemical weapons attack in a Damascus suburb, which it has attributed to the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad. Official Damascus has blamed the attack on rebel forces, and Russia has tentatively backed its long-time ally, while calling for further investigation.
Russia will soon put forward a “workable” plan for placing Syrian chemical weapons under international control, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Tuesday, following up on a day-old Russian proposal that has shifted the international debate on military intervention in war-torn Syria.
A day earlier, Lavrov announced that Moscow would push Damascus to accept an off-the-cuff proposal voiced Monday by US Secretary of State John Kerry, who said a US strike against Syrian targets could be averted if Damascus put “every single bit” of its chemical weapons under international control by week’s end. Syria’s foreign minister, in Moscow for talks, responded by saying Damascus “welcomes” the Russian initiative.
