Three New Poll Results Suggest Where Russia and Ukraine are Heading

Paul Goble

            Staunton, February 13 – Three poll results announced today, two in Russia and one in Ukraine, merit particular notice because they suggest the directions the peoples and their respective countries are likely to be heading in the coming months and even years.  They are as follows:

·         A Levada Center poll finds that 71 percent of Russians believe that elections are important and a means to change policies in their country, a clear rebuke to the dismissive attitude about them that Vladislav Surkov has just displayed (politsovet.ru/61801-rossiyane-hotyat-izmenit-situaciyu-v-strane-s-pomoschyu-vyborov.html).

·         A second Levada Center found that a majority of Russians are not ready to take part in street protests but are ready to sign petitions, a possible indication of the ways in which the Russian opposition will act now (meduza.io/news/2019/02/13/levada-tsentr-bolshinstvo-rossiyan-ne-gotovy-vyhodit-na-mitingi-no-soglasny-podpisyvat-petitsii).

·         Third and most important, 71.5 percent of Ukrainians now say that their country is in a state of war with Russia, the highest number yet and one that will shape not only how they will view Moscow but also how they are likely to vote in the upcoming presidential elections in their country (gordonua.com/news/war/715-ukraincev-schitayut-chto-mezhdu-ukrainoy-i-rf-idet-voyna-opros-736292.html).