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Over 50% of Russian citizens negatively assess Russian-Ukrainian relations

MOSCOW, December 09. /ITAR-TASS/. Over 50% of Russian citizens have negatively assessed relations between Russia and Ukraine while 29% of Russians consider them “standing” and 23% named them as “tense”, the All-Russian Public Opinion Research Centre (WCIOM) said in a press release on Monday.

“Small people talk about friendship and good-neighborliness and 22% of respondent say relations are neutral,” the press release says.

“Only 6% of respondents consider relations between Russia and Ukraine ‘rather warm,” the press release says.

The opinion poll was conducted on November 24-25, 2013 and involved 1,600 Russian citizens from 130 settlements in 42 regions, areas and republics.

According to the opinion poll, over 40% of Russian citizens think that the signing of the Association Agreement with the European Union will not have any impact on bilateral relations.

However, 26% of respondents talk about the growth of tension between the two countries. Only 2% of respondents hope for positive changes.

Under the opinion poll, 72% of Russian citizens heard about Ukraine’s plans to sign a free trade zone agreement with the European Union. Eighteen percent of respondents said: “They knew about it”. Every second person (54%) said he had a superficial glance, the press release says.

Ukraine suspended the signing of the Association Agreement with the European Union. The deal was expected to be signed in Vilnius on November 28. The authorities’ decision provoked protest actions in Kiev.

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