Most Russian citizens are aware of the fact that Ukraine has recently signed the association agreement with the EU but doubt this decision of the Kyiv authorities is beneficial for the development of Ukrainian economy, Public Opinion Foundation (FOM) said following a survey.
Seventy percent out of 1,000 respondents polled are aware that the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement was signed on June 27, sociologists said.
As to why Ukraine needs this agreement, 9% Russians think Kyiv did it “under the EU and U.S. pressure,” 6% respondents believe Ukrainian leadership and oligarchs pursuing “personal interests” were interested in signing the document, other 6% suppose Ukraine expects “the country’s life to improve”, and 5% referred to Ukraine counting on Western help, the survey showed.
At the same time, 41% respondents think Ukraine’s signing the association agreement with the EU will have “rather negative consequences” for Russia and only 9% expect positive outcome, sociologists said.
Twenty seven per cent Russian citizens said the association agreement will have no impact on Russia, and 23% failed to respond.
The main positive consequence of the agreement for Russia is that “probably the EU will impact so that the war ends,” and the negative one is that “our trade relations dropped and they are unlikely to restore,” the survey showed.
The FOL held the poll in early July in 320 cities and tons and 1,600 villages throughout Russia.
