MOSCOW, March 28. /ITAR-TASS/. More than a half of Russian nationals are against recognising Ukraine’s new authorities, suggests a recent opinion poll, conducted by the All-Russia Public Opinion Research Center (WCIOM).
The poll recorded that two-thirds - 68% - of those surveyed believed “Russia should not officially recognise Ukraine’s new authorities”. This opinion was expressed, first of all, by residents of medium-sized cities (80%) and senior citizens (74% of the respondents aged 60 and older).
At the same time, about 18% of polled Russians, mainly young people (23%), residents of small towns (24%) and undereducated people (28%), said they would support recognition of Ukraine’s authorities.
The survey has revealed that about 23% of Russians have a fairly negative attitude to the Ukrainian new leadership while 15% regard the Ukrainian government as illegitimate and believe that its members have illegitimately seized the power.
The situation in Ukraine is currently deteriorating for the population. About 52% of polled Russians noticed this. However, “the number of those giving the same answer has dropped significantly from the beginning of March”, when 68% of the respondents described the situation as worsening.
WCIOM statistics show that Russians in general continue to keep track of the latest developments in Ukraine.
“About 85% of the respondents are closely monitoring developments in the neighbouring country,” the pollster said, adding that citizens’ interest in the events in Ukraine had grown from 72% in early February.
The greatest interest in Ukrainian developments was demonstrated by senior citizens (52% of the respondents), residents of Moscow and St. Petersburg (63%) and higher income groups (52%).
The survey was conducted on March 15-16, 2014 when 1,600 people in 130 cities and villages in 42 Russian regions were interviewed. The margin of error was at about three%.