Against the background of the escalation around Donbass, the share of those who treat Ukraine badly has grown: if 43% of respondents treated Ukraine badly in November last year, then in February this year – 52%. 60% of respondents consider the United States and NATO countries to be the initiators of the escalation in eastern Ukraine. 33% of respondents believe that the DPR and the LPR should become independent states, 25% believe that they should become part of Russia. The survey was conducted on February 17-21.

Against the background of the aggravation of the foreign policy conflict around Donbass, the attitude of Russians towards Ukraine has worsened. If in November 2021 45% of Russians treated Ukraine well, and 43% – badly, then in February 2022 these figures were 35% and 52%, respectively.

Attitude to Ukraine

44% of Russians closely follow the latest events in Ukraine: 20% – very carefully, 24% – quite carefully. Without much attention, 38% of respondents follow what is happening, 14% do not follow at all.

60% of respondents consider the United States and NATO countries to be the initiators of the escalation in eastern Ukraine, 14% – Ukraine. In November 2021, half (50%) of respondents called the USA and NATO countries the initiator of the escalation.

During the survey, 45% of respondents considered it likely that tensions in eastern Ukraine could turn into a war between Russia and Ukraine; 36% assessed the possibility of war as unlikely, 13% completely ruled out this possibility.  In December 2021, 39% (6 percentage points less than in February 2022) considered a war between Ukraine and Russia likely.

The answers to the question about the fear of the possibility of war between Russia and Ukraine were divided almost equally: 51% of Russians are scared of the possibility of war (26% are very scared, 25% are largely scared), 47% are not scared (25% are not scared at all, 22% are not too scared).

A third (33%) of respondents believe that the DPR and the LPR should become independent states, a quarter (25%) believe that they should become part of Russia, 17% agree that the autonomy of Donetsk and Luhansk regions within Ukraine is enough.

Compared to March 2021, the share of supporters of the independence of the people’s republics increased by 5 percentage points.

The greatest support for the independence of the DPR and LPR is noted among the age groups of 40-54 years and 55 years and older: 37% and 38% support the independence of the people’s republics. Among the representatives of the 18-24-year-old group, 19% support this point of view, among the 25-39-year-old group – 28%.

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