You're reading: Survey: Over half of Ukrainians praise Ukraine-Russia deals on gas, fleet

Most Ukrainians welcomed the signing of Ukrainian-Russian agreements on gas and the Black Sea Fleet on April 21, 2010, according to the results of a survey conducted by Research & Branding Group May 20 through June 1, 2010.

According to figures published on R&B’s Web site, 58.7% of respondents positively assessed the signing of the gas and fleet agreements, about 27.8% criticized them, 5.9% were indifferent, 1.8% said they knew nothing about the signing of the documents, and 5.8% failed to answer.

Regionally, the signing of the accords was praised by 81.4% of residents of the country’s southern and eastern regions, 50.9% of residents from central regions, and 21.4% of residents of western regions. Some 61.9% of respondents from the west, 30.9% from the center, and 9.8% from southern and eastern regions criticized the deals.

The respondents were also asked about their attitude to the extension of the Russian Black Sea Fleet’s presence on Ukrainian soil by 25 years. In general, this deal was positive assessed by 52.9% of those polled and negatively assessed by 33.3%, with 8.5% being indifferent to this, and 5.3% being undecided. In addition, over half of the Ukrainians generally welcomed Russian President Dmitry Medvedev’s visit to Ukraine on May 17-18, 2010. The visit was praised by 69.4% of respondents, and criticized by 17.5%, with 13.1% failing to answer.