Russians say Ukraine ceasefire not being observed – poll

(Interfax – October 2, 2014) Seventy-eight percent of Russian citizens recently interviewed by the Levada Center said they knew about the ceasefire which exists between Kiev and the self-proclaimed Donetsk (DPR) and Lugansk People’s Republics (LPR), and 19 percent said they had only learnt about it from the center’s sociologists, a Levada Center spokesman told Interfax.

Sixty-eight percent of the respondents who were aware of the ceasefire said that Kiev is unwilling to observe the truce, and a mere 6 percent mentioned the militia. Another 9 percent said that neither of the sides wants to abide by the ceasefire, and 9 percent said that both Kiev and militiamen are willing to do so.

The idea that the Ukraine ceasefire is not being observed was voiced by 81 percent of respondents, and 13 percent of those polled took the opposing view.

The survey was conducted in 46 Russian regions on September 19-22 and involved 1,600 people.

When analyzing the future of the DPR and the LPR, 50 percent of respondents believe that these self-proclaimed republics should become independent states, another 26 percent of those polled believe that the Donetsk and Lugansk regions will be able to live autonomously within Ukraine, and 9 percent said that these regions will stay within Ukraine on a par with other regions.

The poll also showed that 57 percent of respondents approve of Russian volunteers fighting in the conflict in eastern Ukraine, as compared with 64 percent in June, 25 percent criticized them (19 percent in June), and 18 percent were undecided.

A decision to immediately declare a ceasefire in south-eastern Ukraine was adopted at a meeting of the trilateral Contact Group for Ukraine on September 5. The ceasefire was enacted at 6:00 p.m. Kiev time on the same day.

The parties also agreed that observers from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe would monitor the ceasefire and the situation on the Ukrainian-Russian border, Kyiv would pass a law granting “special status” to Donbas and measures would be taken to improve the humanitarian situation in the southeast.