© Sergey Mamontov / Sputnik
The poll was conducted jointly by the government-run public opinion research center VTSIOM and the Gulag museum that has been operating in Russia since 2001. The research showed that while Russians in general were well informed about the horrible repressions that took place in the country in the first half of the 20th century, the picture was strikingly different for younger people.
When researchers asked all Russian citizens if they were aware of the Stalinist purges 80 percent gave a positive answer. But when the same question was addressed to people between 18 and 24 years of age, 47 percent of respondents answered that they had only learned about repressions from the poll itself.
Comment: The Indonesian government likely does not want foreign NGOs going around their country stirring things up, as NGOs are wont to do.