More than half of Ukrainians do not support the idea of recognizing the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN) and the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) as participants in the struggle for Ukraine's national independence, according to a sociological study conducted by the Rating Sociological Group from Sep. 26 to Oct. 6, 2013.
According to the sociological group, 52 percent of respondents are opposed to such an idea, while 27 percent supported it. Some 20 percent were undecided.
The idea of recognizing the OUN-UPA as fighters for Ukraine’s independence is mostly backed by supporters of Svoboda Party leader Oleh Tiahnybok and former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, and less supported by the voters of President Viktor Yanukovych and Communist Party leader Petro Symonenko.
Only 5-6 percent of residents of the Donbas and southern regions support the recognition of OUN-UPA, whereas the percentage in the western regions is over 70 percent.
The group said that the attitude towards this issue had not been fully formed and varies each year: in 2011, the level of support for the idea grew from 20 percent to 27 percent, whereas in 2012 it dropped to 24 percent. However, in 2013 it again improved, to 27 percent.
The survey was conducted among Ukrainian citizens aged over 18. A total of 2,000 respondents were interviewed. The margin of error (with a probability of 0.95) does not exceed 2.2% for figures close to 50%, 2% for figures close to 30%, 1.3% for figures close to 10%, and 1% for figures close to 5%.
