23.02.09

Most Ukrainian citizens are either satisfied with the terms of the gas agreements between Kyiv and Moscow or believe they are acceptable, according to a poll carried out by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology on January 29 through February 5, 2009.

A total of 1,642 respondents from all Ukrainian regions, Kyiv and Crimea participated in the interview. The poll's margin of error does not exceed 3.7 percent for figures close to 50 percent, 3.2 percent for figures close to 25 percent, 2.2 percent for figures close to 20 percent, and 1.6 percent for figures close to 5 percent.

Some 5.7 percent of Ukrainians believe the outcome of gas accords with Russia are an achievement for Ukraine, and 45.4 percent said it is an acceptable result for the country in the current situation. Some 33.7 percent of those polled described the results of the talks as a loss for their country.

Moreover, 42.2 percent of those polled said that one of the main reasons (respondents could give several options for his or her answer) for the gas crisis was President Viktor Yushchenko's inability to agree with Russia, 28 percent Russia's reluctance to take control of the Ukrainian gas transportation system, 24.3 percent Ukraine's pro-western policy that caused Russian indignation, and 19.5 percent said it was Russia's wish to show Europe that Ukraine is an unreliable partner. Furthermore, 18.1 percent of those polled said that it was Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko's inability to agree with Russia, and 15.5 percent the desire of Yushchenko and a number of Regions Party politicians to return a mediator, RosUkrEnergo, to the scheme of gas relations between Ukraine and Russia.

According to 40.3 percentof respondents, the president is to blame most of all for the disrupted talks on gas supplies to Ukraine late last year, and 11 percent pointed to a group of Regions Party politicians linked to RosUkrEnergo (Dmytro Firtash, Yuriy Boiko, and Serhiy Liovochkin). Some 9.7 percent placed the blame on Tymoshenko, and 1.7 percent on Naftogaz Ukrainy CEO Oleh Dubyna. Another 23.6 percent of respondents said that all of the abovementioned politicians are responsible to a certain extent.

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Source: Interfax-Ukraine