About Half Of Both Russians, Ukrainians Seek Friendly Moscow-Kiev Relations - Poll

About Half of Both Russians, Ukrainians Seek Friendly Moscow-Kiev Relations - Poll

About a half of both Russian and Ukrainian citizens want Moscow and Kiev to have friendly relations with open borders and no visas, a fresh poll showed.

KIEV (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 10th October, 2018) About a half of both Russian and Ukrainian citizens want Moscow and Kiev to have friendly relations with open borders and no visas, a fresh poll showed.

According to the joint poll conducted by the Kiev International Institute of Sociology (KIIS) in Ukraine and Levada-Center analytic center pollster in Russia, 50 percent of Russians want to have friendly relations with Ukraine and 45 percent of Ukrainians are seeking friendly ties with Russia.

The survey showed that 32 percent of Russian respondents called for building neutral relations with Ukraine envisaging closed borders, visa regime and customs. A total of 39 percent of Ukrainians want to have such kind of relations with Russia.

The idea of merging Russia and Ukraine into one single state is supported by 16 percent of Russians and 4 percent of Ukrainians.

The poll indicated that 33 percent of Russians had a positive opinion about Ukrainians while 48 percent of Ukrainians had a good opinion about Russia.

The KIIS part of the poll was conducted on September 8-23, in 109 settlements across Ukraine. The Levada-Center part of the poll was conducted on September 20-26, in 136 settlements across Russia.

Russian-Ukrainian relations significantly deteriorated in 2014 after the overthrow of former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych, Crimea's decision to rejoin Russia and the eruption of a military conflict in the eastern Ukrainian region of Donbas. Ukraine has accused Russia of aggression in Donbas while Moscow, in turn, has stressed that the violence is a civil conflict in Ukraine.