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Russians name Moscow, St. Petersburg as least polluted big cities

Seventy-three percent of the polled Russians name the pollution of water reservoirs and their banks with garbage among the worst ecological problems

© Stanislav Krasilnikov/TASS

MOSCOW, November 30./TASS/. Russians consider the ecological situation in the two biggest cities - Moscow and St. Petersburg - as the most favorable, and say the worst ecological problem in most Russian cities is the pollution of water reservoirs and their banks with garbage, suggests a survey by the VTsIOM pollster.

"The most environmentally friendly situation is in Moscow and St. Petersburg, and the most problem areas from this standpoint are million-plus cities and large cities with the population from 500,000 to 950,000 people," said the survey received by TASS.

Most of the polled Russian nationals assess the ecological situation in the region where they live as satisfactory and good, with 68% saying so. Care for the environment is seen among the major tasks facing the state by 48% of the surveyed Russians, especially by the younger generation.

Seventy-three percent of the polled Russians name the pollution of water reservoirs and their banks with garbage among the worst ecological problems. As many as 64% say these are industrial and sewage effluents, and 58% name unauthorized dumps and removal of household garbage.

The VTsIOM-Sputnik surveys were conducted on July 26 and October 11, 2020. They involved 1,600 Russians over the age of 18 years; the maximum error margin with a probability of 95% does not exceed 2.5%.

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