As Russia expedites visa applications for Ukrainians in territory occupied by Russia, a new poll suggests that not as many Ukrainians are willing to become Russians as President Vladimir Putin might think.
According to a survey conducted by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology, the vast majority (92%) of Ukrainians now have a negative view of Russia, with only 2% having a positive view of the country and its government.
The figures stand in stark contrast to the results of the same survey performed in February, which saw 34% of Ukrainians express a positive attitude towards Russia.
What Else Does the Poll Show?
In a press release, researchers describe how Ukraine has seen a gradual decline in positive attitudes toward Russia over the last three years. The numbers dropped even more dramatically, however, in the wake of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
“Over the past 3 years, a gradual decrease in positive attitude towards Russia has been observed before the full-scale invasion, but even despite several consecutive months of escalation near the borders of Ukraine, 34% of the population of Ukraine in early February 2022 treated Russia well (one of the publications at the end of 2021 studied that this was mainly due to the perception of ‘Russia’ as ‘ordinary Russians,’” the press release states.
It’s also important to recognize that while only 2% of Ukrainians have a positive attitude towards Russia, that’s still quite a large figure. Some 500,000 Ukrainians currently have a positive view towards a country that is invading Ukraine, with troops allegedly committing war crimes.
Researchers also asked the same people the same question over a period of months. They found that after re-interviewing 513 respondents, those who had a negative view towards Russia before the invasion mostly still have the same view – however, the figure dropped by 3%. That small section now say that it’s “hard to say” how they feel about Russia after the invasion.
The data of course showed that those who had a positive view of Russia before the invasion were much more likely to change their mind after the invasion.
80% of those who said earlier this year that they had a positive view of Russia now say that they feel bad about it, while 12% say that they are “undecided.”
And for those who weren’t sure about how they felt about Russia before the invasion, 97% of those now have a negative view of the country.
Jack Buckby is a British author, counter-extremism researcher, and journalist based in New York. Reporting on the U.K., Europe, and the U.S., he works to analyze and understand left-wing and right-wing radicalization, and reports on Western governments’ approaches to the pressing issues of today. His books and research papers explore these themes and propose pragmatic solutions to our increasingly polarized society.
