According to a fresh survey by the respected Levada Center think tank, 59 percent of Russians now see the United States as a “threat.” That’s up from 47 percent in 2007.

Of those, 31 percent believe in the possibility of US military invasion and occupation of Russia.

There’s plenty of aggressive media messaging from both sides to get the public worked up. But the Russians’ deepening concerns are largely thanks to Moscow’s powerful state media machine. It has exploited the ongoing Ukraine conflict, which Russia blames on the West, to shore up support for the Kremlin.