Public opinion polls have shown an extremely negative shift in the public opinion of certain European societies about who is to blame for the war in Ukraine.

GLOBSEC has commissioned a representative sociological survey in eight Central and Eastern European countries and compared its results with a similar survey conducted a year ago in the second half of spring 2022. The study included Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Czechia, Romania, Hungary, Bulgaria and Slovakia.

Over the year, the share of those who agree that Russia is primarily responsible for the attack on Ukraine has increased or remained almost unchanged in most of the surveyed countries.

Last year, there was only one country where less than half of the citizens supported this opinion – Hungary (48%). Today, Hungarian society has significantly changed its mind, with more than half of Hungarians believing in Russia's groundless attack – 54%.

However, the results of two other countries, Slovakia and Bulgaria, were disastrous.

In Bulgaria, belief in Russia's guilt of the attack on Ukraine fell from 50% to 46%, while in Slovakia, the dynamics are even more frightening – this figure fell from 51% to 40%, the lowest among the countries surveyed.

The Slovak president has previously expressed concern about the rise of pro-Russian sentiments in his country. 

Slovak intelligence services have recently exposed Russia's attempt to rig the upcoming parliamentary elections scheduled for September.