27.01.09

About a quarter of Ukrainians believe that Russia was struggling for control over Ukraine's gas transportation system in the gas row, a poll conducted by the National Institute for Strategic Studies and presented on Friday (23 January) at a news conference in Kiev shows.

According to the poll, 26.6 per cent of respondents said that in the gas row "Russia was attempting to ensure control over the Ukrainian gas transportation system".

Some 26.5 per cent of respondents believe that "Russia wants to put Ukraine under its total control".

Some 18.8 per cent of respondents said that "Russia wants to set the highest gas price and not allow it to fall following the oil price".

Some 9.4 per cent said that "Russia wants to preserve the scheme of gas sales via intermediaries".

Some 5.5 per cent said "Russia wants to conceal absence of sufficient amount of gas for Europe and Ukraine".

Some 17.1 per cent of respondents failed to answer the question.

According to the poll, 48 per cent of respondents think that it is better for Ukraine to pay European gas price and not depend on Russia, 20.8 per cent of respondents gas price must be lower and dependence on Russia should be preserved, 28.2 per cent failed to answer the question.

The poll was conducted during 10-16 January. Some 2,011 respondents were polled in all regions of Ukraine, the margin of error did not exceed 2.3 per cent.

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Source: Interfax-Ukraine