According to a new survey, the majority of Danes consider Russia a threat to peace in Europe, while about half are under the impression that Russia is principally responsible for the crisis in Ukraine.

The survey, carried out by the analysis institute Wilke, showed that 59.3 percent of Danes see Russia as a threat to peace in Europe, while 49.1 percent blamed Russia for the crisis in Ukraine.

According to Jyllands-Posten newspaper, Major General Karsten Jakob Møller, a senior analyst at the Danish Institute for International Studies, said that there is a “tinge of Cold War” about the current situation in Ukraine

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Political disagreement
Meanwhile, historian Bent Jensen believes that Russia is behaving like an “old-fashioned authoritarian power and not the global and ideological monster that the Soviet Union was”.

The views vary across the political spectrum, and while Radikale contended that Danes can sleep safely in their beds at night, Dansk Folkeparti and Venstre argue that Russia is a threat to be taken seriously.

“They have shown that by annexing a part of a European nation,” Jakob Ellemann-Jensen, Venstre’s EU spokesperson, told Jyllands-Posten. “Concerning the rest of Europe, Russia has also shown that its dreams of former glory aren’t too far off. One must react to this.”

DF spokesperson Søren Espersen added that he was pleased that Denmark has fighter jets at the ready and is prepared for a naval mobilisation with its NATO partners should it become necessary.