Support for the Kharkiv agreements of 2010 on the prolongation of the deployment of the Russian Black Sea Fleet on the territory of Ukraine until 2042 has dropped among the population of Ukraine, according to a new poll.
The results of the poll by the Rating Sociological Group were presented at a press conference at Interfax-Ukraine on April 27 by the director of the group, Oleksiy Antypovych. A total of 41% those polled supported the prolongation of the deployment of the Russian Black Sea Fleet on the territory of Ukraine before the signing of the agreements, against 38% that were against the prolongation.
After the signing moods slightly changed in the community: in September 2010 some 46% positively evaluated the Kharkiv agreements, and 41% were against them.
Starting from the winter of 2011 until today, the level of support has been gradually falling: as of April 2011, before the anniversary of the signing of the agreements, the number of supporters dropped: 41% voted for, and 41% voted against the agreements.
With regard to regional location, the largest number of supporters of the deployment of the Russian Navy is concentrated in southern regions of the country (73%), the Donbas area (56%), and eastern regions of Ukraine (52%).
"People expected economic benefits from these agreements… Citizens either did not get the point of the benefits, or they were frightened by gas bills this winter," Antypovych said.
Director of the Penta Center for Applied Political Studies Volodymyr Fesenko also commented on the results of the poll: "This research took the ideological temperature in the community… There are certain fluctuations connected with the current political, social and economic situation, as well as fluctuations in the public’s attitude to the Black Sea Fleet – we can see the cooling of expectations from the current authorities and from the rapprochement between Ukraine and Russia after the Regions Party and Viktor Yanukovych came to power."
The poll was conducted from March 30 to April 9, 2011. Some 2,000 respondents aged over 18 years old from all regions of Ukraine, Crimea, Kyiv, and Sevastopol participated in the study. The poll’s margin of error does not exceed 2.2%.
