Interfax: Russians doubt Poroshenko will stop the ‘war’ in Ukraine’s southeastern regions

(Interfax – June 10, 2014) Forty-seven percent of Russian citizens recently interviewed by the Public Opinion Foundation (FOM) have spoken negatively of Ukraine’s new President Petro Poroshenko, a mere 3 percent have said they like him, another 23 percent of respondents have said they know nothing about him, and 27 percent were undecided.

The results of the FOM survey, which was conducted in 43 Russian regions on June 1 and involved 1,500 people, were presented on Tuesday.

Respondents explained their negative attitude toward Poroshenko mostly by his failure to stop the “war” in Ukraine’s southeastern regions, while 8 percent of those polled accused him of having connections with the United States and other Western countries. Six percent of respondents said they did not like him because he is a billionaire. Other respondents said they “did not trust him”, did not like him as a “politician in general”, “he supports the Nazi regime”, “he will not do any good for Ukraine”, “he is an adversary of Russia”, or that “he became president of Ukraine as a result of illegitimate elections.”

Those who like Poroshenko said that he was better than the other presidential candidates, “would possibly be able to restore order in Ukraine” and “was eager to normalize relations with Russia.”

However, 62 percent of respondents believe that Poroshenko will be unable to end the armed conflict in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions. Eight percent said they believed he would be successful, and 30 percent were undecided.

Thirty-two percent of those polled believe relations between Moscow and Kyiv will grow even worse under Poroshenko, 9 percent of respondent think that relations between the two countries will improve, 29 percent said they will not change, and 31 percent were undecided.

As far as Vitali Klitschko is concerned, a mere 8 percent of respondents believe in his ability to properly fulfill the duties of Kyiv mayor, 54 percent took the opposite view, and 7 percent of those polled said they did not know Klitschko at all, according to the survey results. Poroshenko was officially sworn in as president of Ukraine on June 7, after receiving 54.7 percent of the vote in Ukraine’s May 25 presidential elections.

UDAR party leader Klitschko was elected to the post of Kyiv mayor with 56.7 percent of the vote.