About 29 percent of residents of Donetsk region and 10 percent of those living in Luhansk region support possible visa travel with Russia, the Ilko Kucheriv Democratic Initiatives Foundation said in presenting the findings of a public opinion poll of 500 respondents in the Kyiv-controlled areas in Donetsk and Luhansk regions each, which it conducted together with the Ukrainian Sociology Service in Donetsk region on July 1-11 and in Luhansk region on July 8-26.
As many as 72 percent of respondents in Luhansk region and 55 percent in Donetsk region were against visas with Russia, the poll found.
Only 3 percent of Luhansk region residents and 2 percent in Donetsk region said they had a biometric foreign travel passport. About 1 percent of those polled in Luhansk region and 5 percent in Donetsk region said they have valid Schengen visas in their old passports. An absolute majority of those polled (82 percent in Luhansk region and 63 percent in Donetsk region) said they do not have foreign travel passports.
The poll showed that 24 percent of the respondents in Donetsk region and 15 percent in Luhansk region have visited an EU country at least once, while 64 percent in Luhansk region and 52 percent in Donetsk region said they have been to Russia at least once.
As many as 62 percent of respondents in Luhansk region and 40 percent in Donetsk region said they identified themselves above all as citizens of Ukraine.
A significant number of those polled (22 percent in Luhansk region and 47 percent in Donetsk region) associate themselves with their region (i.e. primarily as residents of their village, city, or region).
As many as 47 percent of respondents in Luhansk region and 62 percent in Donetsk region said they use only the Russian language in everyday communication; 19 percent of those polled in Luhansk region and 3 percent in Donetsk region said they use only the Ukrainian language for such purposes, and 34 percent of those polled in Luhansk region and 35 percent in Donetsk region said they use Russian and Ukrainian roughly equally.
Asked about their opinion about Ukraine’s integration preferences, 14 percent of the respondents in Luhansk region and 32 percent in Donetsk region favored Ukraine’s accession to the European Union, 27 percent in Luhansk region and 29 percent in Donetsk region the Customs Union, and 31 percent in Luhansk region and 36 percent in the Donetsk region are against joining any organization.
About one third of Donetsk region respondents and 10 percent in Luhansk region support Ukraine’s accession to NATO, 16 percent in Donetsk region and 17 percent in Luhansk region favor a military alliance with Russia and other CIS countries, and 36 percent in the Donetsk region and 39 percent in Luhansk region want Ukraine to remain non-aligned, the poll showed.
