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Poll shows Russians respect referendums on self-determination

A total of 71% of the respondents have accepted declarations of independence made by citizens of a particular territory, such as Catalonia ir Scotland, in a referendum
AP Photo/Manu Fernandez
AP Photo/Manu Fernandez

MOSCOW, November 18. /TASS/. The All Russia Centre for Studies of Public Opinion (VTSIOM) has released results of a poll on Tuesday published under the title "Postscript to referendums in Scotland and Catalonia". Russian citizens regard referendums on independence of definite territories with understanding, but they disapprove the disintegration of big states, says a conclusion made by the VTSIOM pollster.

A total of 71% of the respondents have accepted declarations of independence made by citizens of a particular territory in a referendum, and only 9% of the respondents polled said the authorities have the right to ban such votes.

The poll showed that 42% of the respondents approve the aspirations of citizens on a number of territories for separation from big states; but 45% of the people polled said they disapprove the disintegration of big states into minor territories.

A total of 37% of the respondents said that the authorities should take into account the right of the people to self-determination; 37% came out for an individual approach in every particular case.

The VTSIOM poll was conducted in 130 settlements, 42 districts and regions and republics of the Russian Federation on September 27-28, 2014 in which 1,600 respondents were polled. A statistical error margin was no more than 3.4%, VTSIOM said.