Over 60% of Ukrainians want accession to EU

KYIV, June 17 /Ukrinform/. If a referendum on Ukraine's accession to the EU were held in Ukraine in June 2014, most Ukrainians would vote for this - 61.5%.

These are the results of a survey conducted by the Gorshenin Institute and presented on Tuesday at the 4th National Expert Forum "From Revolution to a New Country," a Ukrinform correspondent reported.

"If the referendum were held in May 2013, the percentage of supporters of European choice would be 45% of respondents. Now, in June 2014, this is already 61.5%," the moderator of the forum, Sonia Koshkina, said, while presenting the results of the survey.

According to the survey, in May this year, the number of supporters of Ukraine's accession to NATO was also higher than in previous years - 47.3% of respondents.

In addition, most Ukrainians (64.2%) believe that Russia arms separatists in eastern Ukraine and directly controls their actions. Some 55.1% of respondents think that Russia will try to continue aggression against Ukraine, and 76.7% see Russia's actions as a threat to Ukraine's future.

Most respondents (78.4%) also support the Ukrainian authorities in the fighting in eastern Ukraine. However, views on ways to resolve the crisis were divided: 42.1% stress the need to use force, while 47.2% call for the settlement of the crisis through talks.

According to the Gorshenin Institute, the survey was conducted throughout Ukraine from June 1 to June 14. A total of 2,000 people were interviewed.

ap