#6 - JRL 7220
Most Ukrainians support ties with Russia - poll
Interfax-Ukraine

Kiev, 10 June: Ukrainian citizens are fairly critical about Ukraine's relations with Russia: 51.8 per cent of respondents polled by the Razumkov centre described Ukrainian-Russian relations as unstable, 30.4 per cent described them as good, 7.7 per cent see them as bad and 10.1 per cent were undecided.

The Razumkov centre held the poll on 1-8 June using personal interviews with 2,011 respondents older than 18 years of age in all of Ukraine's regions.

According to the survey, most Ukrainians - 69 per cent - support the extension of relations with Russia, 20.2 per cent think that relations should be kept at their current level, 4.2 per cent spoke for reducing cooperation with Russia, and 6.6 per cent were undecided.

Ukrainian citizens are rather pragmatic in prioritizing bilateral cooperation areas, the Razumkov centre told Interfax-Ukraine. Respondents mentioned the following as priority areas for Ukrainian-Russian cooperation: trade and economics (76.2 per cent), the power industry (42.7 per cent), security, including military and law-enforcement (31.9 per cent) and politics (31.6 per cent). Humanitarian contacts were at the bottom of the list (9.8 per cent).