MOSCOW, March 11. /TASS/. Over 80% of Russians support reunification of Crimea with Russia seven years after the referendum, and 13% have a negative view of the events of 2014, chief of the political analysis department of the Russian Public Opinion Research Center Mikhail Mamonov said on Thursday.

"81% of Russians stated that they have a positive view of Crimea’s reunification with Russia, 46% said that it is undoubtedly positive. Only 13% of Russians expressed a negative view. When we estimate the decision to make Crimea part of Russia, the share of positive estimations goes up: 86% of Russians stated that Russia was right to make Crimea part of Russia. Only 10% of Russians state that their opinion is negative," Mamonov said during a round table of the Social Research Expert Institute (EISI) dedicated to the seventh anniversary of Crimea’s reunification with Russia.

According to him, the key factor behind the people’s support of Crimea’s reunification is the restoration of historic justice. "This is a key motive for support in response to an open question: "Why do you think that Russia has made a right decision to incorporate Crimea?" <…> 40% of Russians said in response to an open question that Crimea is a historically Russian land and that the reunification was historically justified," Mamonov added.

The pollster’s representative added that 63% of Russians polled feel proud and impressed with the events that took place on the peninsula seven years ago. "Only 7% of Russians mentioned negative emotions such as disappointment and condemnation. Meanwhile, 27% stated that they have no feelings on the matter," Mamonov said.

After the coup d’etat in Ukraine in February 2014, Crimea and Sevastopol officials held a referendum, in which 96.7% of Crimeans and 95.6% of Sevastopol voters chose to secede from Ukraine and join Russia. Eighty percent of the voting population participated in the referendum. The Russian president signed the reunification deal on March 18, 2014, which the Federation Council (upper house of the Russian parliament) ratified on March 21. Despite the results of the referendum, Kiev, along with various predominantly Western countries, refused to recognize Crimea as a part of Russia.