Many foreign leaders attended celebrations of the 60th anniversary of the victory over Nazi Germany in Moscow on May 9. Two-thirds of the respondents surveyed (65%) consider their participation to be important and significant for Russia.

To explain this view, respondents' said the foreign leaders demonstrated their respect and good feelings through their visit (14%), and acknowledged Russia's role in the victory (8%). According to many people (13%), the presence of the foreign leaders at the Victory Day celebrations will aid the further development of friendship and collaboration between the countries and boost the maintenance of peace (3%); it also increased Russia's prestige in the world (7%).

We should note an important point: it is evident that respondents think Victory Day is "our" holiday, while foreigners are seen only guests. Very few people (4%) noted that other countries helped defeat the Nazis, so celebration of the 60^th anniversary involves them, as well.

It is no surprise that the belief that Victory Day "belongs" to Russia is more often expressed by those who consider the visit by foreign leaders to be unimportant (15% of answers). According to them, "strangers" should not join "our" holiday (3% of answers); anyway, the respect they showed to Russia was insincere (4%). Some people (2%) are sure that foreign heads came to Moscow only to satisfy their curiosity, to be polite in response to an official invitation, or they have their own aims (1%).

Only 40% of respondents think the majority of foreign leaders feel positively towards Russia, while the opposite opinion is expressed by 35%. It is significant that the distribution of answers both to this question and the one about the importance of the foreign leaders' visit of Moscow is almost the same among different age groups. And while women are more likely to believe that Russia enjoys the sympathy of most other countries (41%, against 29% who hold the opposite view), among men, this opinion is expressed by the minority (38%, against 42%). Muscovites are most skeptical: among them, the numbers are 25% and 50%.