In most Eastern European countries, Russian President Vladimir Putin is more popular than US President Donald Trump and German Chancellor Angela Merkel. This is evidenced by the results of a survey conducted by the international research organization Globsek in seven Eastern European countries - Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Croatia and the Czech Republic. It is noteworthy that these states have already become members of the European Union and NATO.

As reported by Izvestia, the greatest sympathy for the Russian leader is experienced by citizens of Bulgaria (Vladimir Putin - 70%, Donald Trump - 37%). This is followed by Romania (47% and 40% respectively), Croatia (46% and 20%), Hungary (44% and 29%) and Slovakia (41% and 21%).

In the Czech Republic, the popularity of these leaders is close - Vladimir Putin - 32%, Donald Trump - 36%. The obvious preference for the American president is given only by the Poles (Donald Trump -35%, Vladimir Putin - 10%).

At the same time, citizens of Bulgaria, Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic are more sympathetic to the Russian president than German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

According to the political scientist, an associate professor of the Faculty of World Politics of Moscow State University. Lomonosov Alexei Fenenko, many residents of conservative and traditional Eastern European countries are being rejected by the cosmopolitanism of the modern West. And this inevitably affects the attitude of the public towards globally oriented policies. In addition, Donald Trump has not yet done anything significant for the Eastern European region, so that people become more specific about him, the expert said..

President of Russia for four consecutive years is the first line of the list of the most influential people in the world according to Forbes. This year the American leader took the second place in this rating, and the third went to the German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

The popularity of Vladimir Putin among Russians is also high. According to a poll conducted by the American research center Pew Research, the results of which are given by TASS, the majority of Russian citizens support both the domestic and foreign policies pursued by the president. Thus, 87% of Russians are confident that the president is taking the right actions in the world arena.

At the same time, the economic situation in the country is called bad 49% of citizens, good - 46%. The president's efforts to combat corruption are approved by 49% of Russians, they do not approve - 45%. Vladimir Putin's policy toward civil society is supported by 57% of respondents, they do not support - 35%.

According to the survey participants, the most significant problems for the country are the growth of prices (71% of respondents), corruption in politics (58%), lack of favorable employment opportunities (54%) and social inequality (53%).

The "Globsek" poll was conducted during the period from February to April this year by individual interviews, in total 7,212 people were interviewed.

Pew Research survey was conducted among 1002 Russians between February 18 and April 3.