Some 12.6% of Ukrainians believe that the Russian language in Ukraine should have the status of the state language throughout the country, 17.9% – the status of the official one in certain regions, according to the results of a sociological survey conducted by the Ilko Kucheriv Democratic Initiatives Foundation in cooperation with social service of the Razumkov Center.
In particular, when asked what status the Russian language should have in Ukraine, 66.1% answered that the Russian language should be freely used in private life, but the Ukrainian language should remain the single state language, 17.9% – that the Russian language should receive the status of official in certain regions of Ukraine, 12.6% – that the Russian language, along with Ukrainian, should have the status of the state language throughout Ukraine, and 3.5% found it difficult to answer.
When asked whether the rights of Russian-speaking citizens are violated in Ukraine, 10.1% answered that they are constantly violated, 26.3% – violated in some cases, 52.2% – not violated, and 11.5% found it difficult to answer the question.
In addition, when asked what language the respondents mostly speak at home, 36% answered that Russian, 60.9% – Ukrainian, 1.4% – another, and 1.6% found it difficult to answer.
When asked what language the respondents mostly speak at work/when studying, 24.1% answered that Russian, 57.2% – Ukrainian, 16.2% – Ukrainian and Russian equally often, 1.4% – another, and 1% found it difficult to answer.
Among other things, when asked what language the respondents consider their native, 22% answered that Russian, 73.4% – Ukrainian, 1.7% – another, and 2.9% found it difficult to answer the question.
The study was carried out by the Ilko Kucheriv Democratic Initiatives Foundation in cooperation with the social service of the Razumkov Center from August 14 to August 19, 2020, by means of face-to-face interviews at the place of residence of the respondents. A total of 2,018 respondents aged 18 and over were interviewed in all regions of Ukraine, with the exception of Crimea and the occupied territories of Donetsk and Luhansk regions, according to a sample representing the adult population in terms of basic socio-demographic indicators.
The theoretical sampling error (excluding the design effect) does not exceed 2.3% with a probability of 0.95.
