MOSCOW, July 22 (UPI) -- More than 1-in-3 Russians think the influx of non-Russian ethnicities into the country is a threat to national security, a survey released Monday indicates.
The migration of "other ethnicities" into Russia was cited as a "very real threat" by 35 percent of respondents, ahead of 19 other potential security threats on a list, and ahead of "degradation of culture, science and education," at 33 percent, and environmental disasters and terrorist attacks, at 28 percent, the Russian news agency RIA Novosti reported.
The survey of 1,600 respondents, taken door-to-door in 130 cities by the state-run All-Russian Center for the Study of Public Opinion, or VTsIOM, used "Russian," the self-identified ethnicity of 80 percent of the population, as a baseline, VTsIOM spokeswoman Olga Kamerchuk said.
While Russia has touted its ethnic diversity, tensions flare up regularly and anti-migrant rhetoric is often heard from officials, RIA Novosti said, noting immigration authorities have said more than 11 million foreigners live in Russia, as of June.
The survey was conducted in mid-June, and has a margin of error of 3.4 percentage points.
