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Over 80% of Ukrainians approve of Russia - poll

MOSCOW. Jan 4 (Interfax) - The overwhelming majority of Ukrainian citizens said they have a positive attitude to Russia, while one-half of Ukrainians expressed regret about the disintegration of the Soviet Union, according to a poll.

A public opinion survey conducted by Yury Levada's analytical center late in 2004 has shown that 46% of respondents have "a generally good" attitude to Russia, 37% describe their attitude to Russia as "very good" and a mere 12% disapprove of it.

Fifty percent of Ukrainians voiced their regret about the collapse of the Soviet Union, while 39% took the opposite view.

Seventy-five percent of those polled described current relations between the two nations as "normal, friendly and good-neighborly", 13% called them "tepid," 8% characterized them as "strained," and 1% described them as "hostile."

According to the Levada-Center poll, 48% of Ukrainians thinks that the CIS in its current form helps sustain good-neighborly relations between former Soviet republics. Twenty-four percent of those surveyed expressed the opposite opinion, saying that it does not play a key role in relations between these countries. Ten percent criticized the role of the CIS and 18% were undecided.

Twenty-four percent of respondents predicted a complex and lengthy road toward accord within the CIS, 4% percent forecast a further escalation of tensions in the CIS, while 9% suggested the CIS would disintegrate.

Thirty-five percent of those polled said that integration processes and ties between various CIS member-countries will continue to expand, while 8% were undecided.