Russians are less interested in the developments in Ukraine. The assessments of the bilateral relations have reached a historic low.

MOSCOW, August 25, 2016.  Russian Public Opinion Research Centre (VCIOM) presents the data of the survey describing how Russians describe the current Ukrainian-Russian relations.

Today the share of Russians who are interested in what is happening in Ukraine is 67%; this is the proportion of those who, in varying degrees, keep track of the situation. At the same time, this share was higher in 2014 and 2015.

Today the percentage of Russians who consider the situation in Ukraine as a civil war is smaller compared to the previous year (50% of those who keep track of the situation in January 2015; 20% in August 2016). Every third Russian (32%) calls it anarchy, lawlessness and banditism.

The Ukrainian crisis index* has crossed the zero value and become positive for the first time since the beginning of 2015 (6 p. on a scale from -100 to 100 p.). The positive dynamics is observed against the background of a decline in the number of those who cite escalation of tension (from 63% to 41%) and a rise in the share of those who see no changes (from 25% to 40%). This is why most of respondents who are aware of the situation have not mentioned any improvements. Only 7% mark signs of normalization.

Over the recent two years, the public assessments regarding the Ukrainian-Russian relations have sharply deteriorated; according to the recent data, the bilateral relations’ index** has dropped to its historic minimum (-37 p. on a scale from -100 to 100): 37% of Russians assess the relations as tense; 26%  - as hostile.

Respondents propose to build smooth relationships like with any other country (45%) rather than being friendly (12%). Nine years ago the shares of corresponding answers were 54% and 19%. More than one-quarter of Russians (29%; 16% in 2005) believe that Russia should seek pro-Russian politicians coming to power in Ukraine.

*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 a difference of positive and negative answers, 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.

**Russia-Ukraine relations’ index is based on the question “How would you assess the current relations between Russia and Ukraine?" and shows the state of relations between Russia and Ukraine. The higher the value of index is, the better the assessments of the relations are. The index is calculated as a difference between positive and negative answers, measured in points and can vary between -100 and 100.  The answer “friendly” corresponds to the coefficient “1”; “good neighborly” – “0.66”, “rather warm”- “0.33”, “neutral”- “0”, “cool” – “0.33”, “tense” – “0.66”, “hostile”- “1”.

The VCIOM survey was carried out on August 13-14, 2016 in 130 settlements, 46 regions and 9 federal districts of Russia. The sample size involved 1600 persons. The survey was conducted with multi-stage stratified sample based on general rule of walking and quotas at the final selection stage; the sample is representative of the Russian population aged 18 and over, according to sex, age, education, type of settlement.  The margin of error (taking into account the design effect) with 95% confidence interval does not exceed 3.5%. The survey method is community-based formalized face-to-face interviews. In addition to sampling error, minor changes in question wording and different circumstances arising during the field work can introduce bias into the survey.

*In 2006, there was a conflict between the Ukrainian president and the Verkhovna Rada; the Verkhovna Rada passed a vote of no confidence in the government.

**In April 2007, V. Yushchenko dismissed the Verkhovna Rada and called new elections.

Note: Using materials from the websites 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.