MOSCOW - Two-thirds (62 percent) of Russian citizens interviewed as part of a recent survey described the situation in the east of Ukraine as tense; another 20 percent called it critical and explosive (the highest percentage of respondents backing this view since October 2015), the Levada Center told Interfax.
A mere 8 percent of respondents to the survey, which was conducted in 137 populated localities in 48 Russian regions on July 22-25 and involved 1,600 people, described the situation in Donbas as calm, and 1 percent called it safe.
As many as 83 percent of respondents said they were following the latest developments in Ukraine, and 15 percent said they were not interested in what was happening in this neighboring country.
At the same time, 47 percent of Russians said they did not think that the situation in the east of Ukraine could change within the next year, 28 percent expected it to improve, another 11 percent of those polled thought it would grow even worse, and 14 percent were unable to answer the question.
Nineteen percent of respondents said they thought “it was necessary to make concessions in talks with Ukraine in order to stop the military conflict in Donbas and normalize relations with Ukraine.” However, 62 percent of respondents said they were against any concessions for Ukraine, and 19 percent of those polled were unable to answer this question.
Sixty-seven percent of respondents said they feared that continuing armed clashes in eastern Ukraine could turn into a protracted civil war, and 25 percent of respondents took the opposite view.
Forty percent of respondents said they feared that the conflict in Ukraine could result in a war between Russia and this country, and 53 percent of those polled disagreed. Twenty-nine percent of respondents, for their part, expressed fear that the Ukrainian conflict could lead to a new world war, and 61 percent of respondents voiced the opposite opinion.
