Financial Times: poll shows over half of Russians believe Kyiv behind deadly terrorist attack in Moscow

Over half of Russians surveyed in a recent online poll believe the Kremlin’s assertations that Kyiv was behind the Crocus City Hall terrorist attack, reports the Financial Times. The results of the study, conducted by the sociological project OpenMinds, have yet to be published on the project’s website.

More than 50 percent of the 652 people surveyed by OpenMinds said the Ukrainian authorities were responsible for the terrorist attack, while 27 percent blamed the Islamic State. Another six percent said the so-called collective West was behind the attack.

Respondents between the ages of 18-30 who oppose the war in Ukraine were more likely to blame ISIS for the attack. Among all opponents of the war, 50 percent said the attack was carried out by ISIS, while only 12 percent of war supporters held this view.

Moreover, according to the OpenMinds survey, over 75 percent of survey participants considered Putin the “most reliable” or “absolutely reliable” source of information about the attack.

Sociologist Denis Volkov, the director of the independent Levada Center, told the Financial Times that if Russian propaganda and authorities blame Ukraine for the terrorist attack, people will believe this version of events because the information space in Russia is almost fully controlled.

Note: The results of sociological studies conducted under wartime censorship and repression cannot be considered entirely reliable.