Title: What did Russian citizens during the Cold War think about America? Why? - Quora
Headings: 
What did Russian citizens during the Cold War think about America? Why?
Dima Vorobiev

Content: As the poll results demonstrate, despite the fact that 15 years have passed since the end of the Cold War and the fall of the iron curtain,” Russian people today still lack objective information about the United States and its policies. Russians admit this fact — 23 percent of the Russian people who participated in the poll said they lack information on United States culture, another 25 percent said they needed more information on the United States’ achievements in science and technology. The shortage of information causes misunderstanding and negative attitudes toward the United States among Russians, upsetting American politicians and creating obstacles to productive cooperation between the two countries. “I just can’t tolerate them, I dislike this country”, said one of the participants in the poll. Probably, for him it was impossible to name the exact reasons of his negative attitude to the United States as this attitude is based mainly on emotions, not on facts. There is another trend among Russian people — they have too high requirements to the USA, thinking that everything in the US should resemble paradise. After such expectations are defeated and Russians see some drawbacks in the American society, Russians move to extreme forms of criticism towards the US. There are some United States-funded mass media operating in Russia — two radio stations, Radio Liberty and Voice of America, but they have proven to be unable to fill the gap and educate Russian people on the United States and its policies. In addition, the majority of the listeners of these two radio stations are well-educated people in the major Russian cities, while the bulk of Russian society prefers television as the main source of information. Similarly, the majority of Russian participants of the United States’ educational exchange programs reside in Moscow, and the Russian public can participate in the United States-sponsored cultural events only in several major cities that have United States embassies and consulates.