REUTERS

The number of Russians wishing to see their relatives join military ranks has reached a historic high of 71% after the government moved to classify data on the death toll in the army in peacetime.

In particular, answering the question "Would you like your son, brother, husband or other close relative to be in the army now", 71% of respondents answered "Yes", 21% told "Rather not", and 8% could not come up with a definite answer, according to a survey by Russian Public Opinion Research Center (VCIOM) that are at UNIAN's disposal.

Read alsoPoll reveals what Ukrainian youth think about Russian aggression in UkraineIn 2017, 68% wanted to see their relatives part of the army (24% said "No"); in 2015 some 47% answered affirmatively (another 47% opposed the idea), in 2014 some 53% said "Yes" (41% - "No"), and in 2012, 52% agreed (40% rejected the idea).

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According to the poll, senior citizens are more willing to have their relatives join the army. The number of positive answers reaches 75% among those over 60 years of age.

At the same time, 31% of respondents believe that the Russian Armed Forces are world's most effective and combat-capable, 52% indicated that the Russian army was among world's best armies, 8% said that the current Armed Forces were somewhat behind the world's best armies, 2% said that the combat-capacity of the Russian army was very poor, while 7% found the question difficult to answer.

Read alsoFamilies of Russian mercenaries killed in war zones get compensations – mediaThe survey was conducted on February 17-18 via telephone interviews among 2,000 respondents. The poll's error margin is under 2.2%.

As UNIAN reported earlier, on May 28, 2015, on the background of the Russian military invasion of Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin classified data on the losses among Russian military servicemen in special operations in peacetime.