Ukrainian view on Russia and Russian view on Ukraine both more negative – poll

The opinion of Ukrainians on Russia and Russians on Ukraine have both become more negative, according to a poll conducted in December-January as a part of a joint project between the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology (KIIS) and Russian non-state Levada-Center analytical center.

Ukrainians view Russia more positively than Russians view Ukraine, reads the KIIS press release posted on Friday.

In September 2014, 48% of respondents in Ukraine spoke about Russia positively, in December that number fell to 37%. The corresponding results in Russia are as follows: 32% in September, and 24% in December.

In addition, the number of people who want to close the border with Russia grew from 45% in September to 50% in December. The same trend is observed in Russia – from 26% to 32%.

7% of Russians and 3% of Ukrainians supported being united in one state.

The majority of those who support uniting with Russia are from eastern Ukraine, however their number decreased almost twofold in contrast to September (from 13.3% to 7%). Ukraine's west (0.2%) and center (1.6%) showed the least desire to become a single country with Russia.

The all-Ukrainian poll was conducted through December 5-15, 2014 by KIIS and the Ilko Kucheriv Democratic Initiatives Foundation. A total of 2,011 respondents from over 110 populate areas in Ukraine (except for Crimea) were surveyed.

The poll's margin of error was 3.3% for results close to 50%, 2.8% for results close to 25%, 2% for results close to 10%, and 1.4% for results close to 5%.

Levada-Center conducted the survey through January 23-26, 2015. A total of 1,600 respondents over 18 years old from 130 populated areas in 45 regions of Russia were surveyed. The poll's margin of error was 3.4%.