Russians ‘hugely intolerant’ of alien neighbours

MOSCOW - Russians are “hugely intolerant” when it comes to dealing with neighbours, a study has said, with over 46 percent people saying they don’t want to live next to immigrants and foreign workers.

Russians are not very happy to live next door to drug addicts, alcoholics, ex-convicts, homosexuals, HIV patients and emotionally unstable people, said the poll conducted by market researchers Bashkirova and Partners.

Religion also seems to be taboo - 31 percent people said they did not want Muslim neighbours, 25 percent were not keen on Jews and even Christians incurred the wrath of 11 percent, the poll said.

Russians are also not very pleased to live near ethnic groups. Gypsies (62 percent), immigrants and foreign workers (46 percent) and people of a different nationality (25 percent) all got the thumbs down from over 2,000 participants from seven different regions.

Experts are of the opinion that it is the fear of the new that scares Russians of living with people of different nationalities.

“It is a difficult process of mastering anything new, particularly people of other cultures; a cultural shock of the receiving side. It is not a total xenophobia or ethno-phobia, but a transitional period,” Igor Kuznetsov, a researcher at the Centre for Inter-ethnic Relations was quoted as saying by Moscow News.

Russians were also not ready to take part in any neighbourhood activity.

“Our people turned out to be intolerant and not ready to carry hardships and domestic difficulties connected to any neighbourhood,” said Elena Bashkirova, head of the Bashkirova and Partners agency.