Russians think foreign organizations are trying to undermine traditional values and rewrite history, new poll shows

Two-thirds of Russians (63 percent) say they believe there are organizations working to destroy Russians’ spiritual values and propagate “unconventional sexual relations,” according to a new national survey by the state-owned pollster VTSiOM.

This paranoia is most common among people between the ages of 45 and 59 and Russians with advanced degrees. Less than a quarter of the population (24 percent) say they believe that activists defending LGBT rights are not working to destroy the country’s spiritual values, arguing that “gay propaganda” is a myth. Roughly half (48 percent) of Russians between the ages of 18 and 24 express this view.

Even more Russians (66 percent) say they believe a certain group of people want to rewrite the country’s history in order to “harm Russia and diminish its greatness.” Twenty-six percent of respondents dismissed this idea, with 47 percent of young people saying that historians are only interested in uncovering the truth about past events.