More than two-thirds of Russians keep track of events in Ukraine; negative opinions prevail.

MOSCOW, July 12, 2017. The Russian Public Opinion Research Center (VCIOM) presents the results of a survey devoted to Russian assessments of the situation in Ukraine and Russia-Ukraine relations.

The share of Russians who are interested in political events in Ukraine has slightly decreased (77% in February and 72% in July). At the same time, there is a steady decrease in the number of those who keep track of the situation on a regular basis (from 38% in January 2015 to 18% in July 2017). As before, the level of interest is dependent on respondents’ age (young people are less interested compared to the older respondents).

During the first years of internal political crisis those Russians who kept track of the situation often referred to it as “civil war”, however this year more Russians describe the situation as “chaos”, “anarchy”, “unlawfulness”,  “banditism”.  

After a drop to -43 p. in February (which is close to the level of spring and summer 2014), the Ukrainian crisis index* went up to –6 p. in July (in a range from -100 to 100 p.). Positive dynamics is observed amid a decreased number of those who report escalating tensions (from 71% to 52%) and an increase in the number of those who see no changes (from 24% to 41%). Thus, as before most of respondents who are aware of the situation think it is not getting better. Only 5% notice normalization.

Assessments of Russian-Ukrainian relations show no improvements: tensions are reported by 36%, and hostility - by 25%. The overall percentage of positive opinions does not exceed 10%.

*Ukrainian crisis index is based on the question “In your opinion, in what direction has the situation in Ukraine been evolving lately?" and shows the direction of changes in Ukraine. The index is calculated as the difference of the sum of answers “situation is being normalized”, “situation is neither better, nor worse; nothing is changing much” and “situation is getting more and more tense; it is deteriorating”; it is measured in points and can vary between -100 and 100. The higher the value of index is, the more confidence that the situation in Ukraine will normalize is.

The VCIOM-Sputnik Russian nationwide survey was conducted on July 5-7, 2017. The survey involved 1,800 Russians aged 18 and over, and was carried out using stratified dual-frame random sample based on a complete list of landline and mobile phone numbers operating in Russia. The data were weighted according to selection probability and social and demographic characteristics. The margin of error at a 95% confidence level does not exceed 2.5%. In addition to sampling error, minor changes in question wording and different circumstances arising during the fieldwork can introduce bias into the survey.

Results for the 2006-2016 studies are based on household surveys.

Note: Using materials from the site www.wciom.ru or wciom.com, as well as distributed by VCIOM, the reference to the source (or hyperlink for the electronic media) is obligatory!