MOSCOW, July 31. /TASS/. The Russian Public Opinion Research Center has found that most Russians (67%) believe that the Russian Navy is the world’s strongest, while the US Navy is ranked second (40%) and the People's Liberation Army Navy of China is ranked third (15%), according to the poll published on the center’s website on Wednesday.

Most respondents (89%) are confident that the Russian Navy is capable of protecting the country’s sea borders in case of a real threat from other states. That said, the specified indicator increased by 19 percentage points over 14 years (89% this year compared with 70% in 2005).

Along with that, 85% of those polled think that service in the Navy is prestigious, whereas just 5% have the opposite view. More than half of the poll’s respondents (56%) would approve of their children and grandchildren’s choice to become naval officers.

Overall today, like 14 years ago, almost every fifth pollee (17% in 2019, compared with 18% in 2005) has friends, relatives or acquaintances who serve or work in the Russian Navy.

The telephone interview was carried out by the Russian state-run pollster on July 26 among 1,600 adult Russians. The margin of sampling error is no more than 2.5% with a 95% probability.