Quarter of Russians believes Russian troops fighting in Donbas – poll

Thursday, November 27, 2014 - 18:13 (EET) Section: Latest news

Twenty-five percent of Russian citizens are confident that Russian troops are fighting in Donbas.
This is stated in a survey conducted by Russia’s non-governmental Levada Center, a Ukrinform correspondent in Russia reported.
When asked whether Russians think that Russian troops are now in Ukraine in the context of the armed conflict in Donbas, 25% of Russians responded positively. In addition, 18% of respondents believe that Kyiv is fighting with Russia in eastern Ukraine, 58% believe that it is fighting with “the people of Donbas,” and 14% said – “with separatists who want to separate part of the country from Ukraine.”
According to the survey, most respondents would mostly have a positive attitude if they found that Russian military are fighting in the ranks of the so-called “militiamen” in eastern Ukraine. The answer “quite positively” was given by 10% of respondents, and 35% answered “rather positively.” Some 55% of Russian citizens have a positive attitude to the fact that “Russian volunteers” are fighting among terrorists in Donbas.
At the same time, most Russians (73%) believe that Russia is not responsible for the deaths of civilians in eastern Ukraine, and 18% think otherwise. Personal responsibility is assumed by only 10% of Russian citizens, and 83% reject it.
The survey was conducted on November 14-17, 2014. A total of 1,600 people aged over 18 from 134 settlements in 46 regions of the country were interviewed. The poll’s margin of error does not exceed 3.4%.