Moscow - The number of Russians having positive attitudes toward Ukraine and its president is declining, the Public Opinion Foundation found following a poll it conducted in 43 regions of Russia on October 1-2.
The share of Russians who believe that relations between Moscow and Kyiv are bad has nearly doubled to 45% from 23% in the past year, while the number of those describing Russian-Ukrainian relations as good has dropped to 17% from 46% in this period.
At the same time, 18% of Russians believe relations between the two countries will improve in a year, 16% expect them to worsen, and 25% think they will not change.
The sociologists also asked the respondents about their attitude toward President Viktor Yanukovych and found that 41% of Russians mistrust him (28% in 2010), while the share of those who trust him has gone down to 14% from 32% in 2010.
Soon after Yanukovych was elected president of Ukraine, 59% of Russians saw relations between the two countries as improving, but this figure fell to 17% in September 2011, while the number of those who have noticed that the relations are worsening has increased to 24% from 5%.
