Russians are more determined assessing the Euromaidan protests that happened two year ago they think it was political banditry and do not want this to happen in Russia.

MOSCOW, February 26, 2016. Russian Public Opinion Research Centre (VCIOM) presents the results of the survey devoted to the current Russian assessments of the Euromaidan protests and its consequences for Ukraine as well as the possibility of this scenario in Russia.

Over a year the attitudes of Russians toward Ukraine have deteriorated: the share of positive assessments has decreased from 60% to 50%; but the share of negative assessments is still smaller (36%). The index* describing the Russian attitudes towards Ukraine makes up 13 p. (vs. 28 p. in 2015).  

Two years after the Euromaidan events were rethought but the opinions are colored negatively: the protests are mainly perceived as anarchy and banditry (34%; decreased from 29% in 2014). Rarer respondents mention coup d’etat (from 25% in 2014 to 18% in 2016); few cite civil war (from 27% to 12%, respectively).

As before, the main reasons for the protests are regarded to be wrong political line of the Ukrainian authorities (20%), American provocation (19%), fighting for power and resources (13%).

Most of respondents (81%) think that the consequences are negative for Ukraine; since 2014 the public opinion has become more contradictory (73%). For the time being, only 2% of respondents consider that Ukraine benefited from the protests.

Almost an absolute majority of Russians do not accept the Euromaidan protests: 96% of Russians do not want the similar scenario to occur in Russia. Most of respondents (70%) believe it is impossible; however the share of such respondents has slightly decreased (from 75-76% in 2014-2015). They are opposed by 21% of respondents (the shares of LDPR and non-parliamentary parties’ supporters are 33% per each group); their basic arguments are dissatisfaction with authorities and situation in the country.

The Medialogia Company analysis suggests that Maidan was mentioned in more than 450 thousand publications in the Russian media in 2013 -2015. The mentions’ peaks were in December 2013 (33 thousand), February 2014 (42 thousand) and March (42 thousand) and march 2014 (40 thousand). In December 2014, the media reported on the Maidan protests in Kiev and the confrontation between opposition and security forces. In February and March 2014, the media reported on the Maidan ongoing confrontation involving snipers and victims. The media also informed that Yulia Timoshenko made a speech on Maidan.

*Index shows the attitudes of Russians towards Ukraine. It is based on the question: “What are your general attitudes towards Ukraine?”; it is measured in points and can vary between -100 and 100.  The index is calculated as a difference between positive and negative answers. The higher the value of index is, the better the perception of Ukraine are.

The VCIOM opinion poll was conducted on February 13-14, 2016. A total of 1600 respondents were interviewed in 130 settlements in 46 regions and republics of Russia. The margin of error does not exceed 3.5%. Russian media monitoring and analysis were carried out by the Medialogia Company using approximately 30 300 sources such as television, radio, newspapers, magazines.

‘In 2014, the question was as follows: “How would you describe what is happening in Ukraine today?” (open-ended question, any number of answers, % of those who follow the Ukrainian developments)

‘’ In 2015, the question was as follows: “Have Ukraine benefited or lost due to the orange revolution?”

 ‘’’ In 2014, the question was as follows: “Have Ukraine benefited or lost due to the recent events?”

‘’’’ In 2014, the question was as follows: “Would you like the events similar to those that are taking place in Ukraine to happen in Russia?”

’’’’’ In 2014, the question was as follows: “In your opinion, are mass political protests similar to those that are taking place in Ukraine possible in Russia?”

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