Zelensky or Putin - Who Is More Trustworthy?

According to a recent survey by Pew Research Center, Ukraine has its steadfast allies who vehemently oppose Russian President Vladimir Putin. However, there are also countries among the 53 surveyed by the organization that trust Putin more than Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, mistrust both politicians or seem complacent on the issue.

Nations where almost all respondents have no confidence in Putin are found in Europe, including Eastern Europe. The United States, Japan, South Korea, Israel and Australia are also on that list, but beyond these nations, support wanes.

While Latin American countries at least mistrust Putin more than they do Zelensky, suspicion of the latter surpasses that of the former in countries like Hungary, Malaysia, Greece, Thailand and Tunisia. Malaysia was also the country where most people in the survey saw Russia positively (57 percent), followed by Bangaldesh (53 percent), Tunisia and Thailand (52 percent each) as well as Peru (47 percent).

While many African nations have split opinions on the issue, complacency reigns supreme in South Asia, with respondents from India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh refusing to answer or answering "don't know" most often in the survey. The same is true for South Africa, another of Russia's BRICS allies. India, along with China (which wasn't surveyed) has been one of the biggest buyers of Russian oil above price caps throughout the war, thereby funding the Russian military.