MOSCOW, March 17, /ITAR-TASS/. Russians support the decision over Crimea’s reunification with Russia and are prepared to give aid and support to its population even under threat of possible sanctions by the West. Polled by Itar-Tass political experts and experts who analysed results of a joint sociological survey by Public Opinion Fund (FOM) and All-Russia Public Opinion Research Centre (WCIOM) came to this conclusion.

In an all-Russia sociological survey on March 14-16 91% of Russians said in favor of Crimea’s reunification with Russia, meanwhile, 94% of respondents believe that Russia should protect rights of Russians and representatives of other nationalities living in Crimea. The sociological survey was conducted in all Russian constituent entities, where 48,590 respondents were polled. Meanwhile, 88.8% of pollsters supported Crimea’s reunification with Russia, 8.1% opposed this.

“As for Russia’s position on Crimea an absolutely sociopolitical consensus was reached,” Director General of the Institute of Priority Regional Projects Nikolay Mironov stated. “This consolidation does not depend from any action from outside seeking for an attempt to restrain Russia, such as threats to impose sanctions and negative assessments by foreign countries,” he noted.

Mironov noted geography of voting. “Several regions which we traditionally find more opposition-minded than others, for instance, Moscow, St. Petersburg or, for instance, Yaroslavl Region and Sverdlovsk Region - all of them are also definitely in this consensus,” he noted.

Chief of the chair of applied political studies of the Financial University under Russian government Konstantin Simonov shared this opinion. “It is very interesting that Russian citizens are prepared to make economic sacrifices for protection of Russian speakers. Here they are rarely unanimous and approve actions of Russian authorities,” he noted, adding that Crimea’s reunification with Russia “is restoration of historical justice and protection of Russian speakers” for Russian citizens.