MOSCOW. Aug 21 (Interfax) - Russians tend to believe that the main cause of the recent military conflict involving South Ossetia is the desire of the U.S. to expand its influence in the countries bordering Russia, a public opinion poll conducted by the Levada Center on August 15-18 shows.

One out of two Russians (49%) believes the U.S. policy on Russia is the main cause of the recent crisis in the Caucasus. One-third of the respondents (32%) accuse the Georgian administration of discrimination against Ossetians and the Abkhaz, 5% of the respondents believe the conflict was caused by the desire of the self-proclaimed republics of South Ossetia and Abkhazia to stay in power, and another 5% believe the crisis was caused by Russia's desire to keep its influence in the Caucasus.

Three-quarters of Russians (74%) do not doubt that the people of Georgia have become pawns of the U.S. geopolitical ambitions, while 14% disagree, the poll shows.

When asked why they believe Georgia used force against South Ossetia, only 15% of the respondents said they believe the reason was that Georgia wanted to restore its territorial integrity. The majority of the respondents said Georgia took that step to resolve its territorial problems to enter NATO (43%) and 38% said they believe Mikheil Saakashvili needed to take this step to strengthen his authority in Georgia and remain president.