MOSCOW, February 27. /TASS/. More than half of Russians (59%) believe that after the forthcoming presidential election in Ukraine bilateral relations will see no change, as follows from an opinion poll by the national public opinion studies center VTsIOM.
"More than half of those polled (59%) believe that after the presidential election in Ukraine bilateral relations between the two countries will not change. A tiny 13% of respondents are positive about the situation. They expect that Russian-Ukrainian elections will get better after the election. And eight percent suspect the relations will get still worse.
Seventy nine percent of the polled are informed about Ukraine’s forthcoming election, including 18% of those who closely monitor the election campaign. In 2014, 88% of Russians new Ukraine was holding a presidential election.
"The prevailing opinion in Russian society (68%) is the election will be rigged by the Ukrainian authorities and have nothing to do with the real will of the people. A tiny 3% think the election will be fair," the VTsIOM said.
The VTsIOM-Sputnik national opinion poll was held on February 24, 2019. A total of 1,600 respondents aged above 18 were questioned by telephone. The margin of error was 2.5% with a 95% probability.
Ukraine’s presidential election is due on March 31, 2019. The Central Election Commission has registered a record number of candidates - 44. A number of politicians and experts have already described the current election campaign as the dirtiest ever in the history of independent Ukraine.