Majority of Western citizens are against Russia’s concessions due to war in Ukraine, - poll
Almost eight months after Russian troops invaded Ukraine, citizens of leading Western countries are mostly opposed to concessions by Russia and to maintaining sanctions against it in connection with a full-scale war.
This is evidenced by a survey conducted by the University of Cambridge and the YouGov agency in 25 countries of the world, writes The Guardian, Censor.NET reports with reference to "European Truth".
The survey, conducted from August 24 to September 22, showed that out of 13 Western or English-speaking countries - France, Germany, Sweden, Denmark, Spain, Italy, Greece, Hungary, Poland, Great Britain, the USA, Australia and Canada - ten (except Greece , Hungary and Italy) support maintaining sanctions against Russia.
Support for sanctions ranged from a low of 57% or 58% in France and Germany, 60%, 62% and 65% in Canada, the US and Poland, to a high of over 70% in the UK, Sweden and Denmark.
A significant number of respondents in these countries - 62% in Poland, 57% in Sweden, 50% in Great Britain, 40-50% in France, Germany, Spain and the USA - also believe that the current sanctions are "not tough enough" and should be strengthened . At the same time, 66% in Denmark and 63% in Great Britain supported the sanctions, even if their living costs would increase slightly.
Most citizens of the ten countries mentioned also favor non-violent measures of "hybrid warfare" against Russia, such as targeting Russian media with alternative information. NATO's direct military intervention does not enjoy significant support (from 30-40% in most countries to 20% in Germany).
The majority of Western respondents did not support a possible compromise with the Kremlin on how the war in Ukraine could end.
Thus, only 13% of respondents in France, for example, supported the recognition of Russian sovereignty over Crimea if Moscow does not give up any of the recently annexed Ukrainian territories, and even if they did, only 17% supported it. In Germany, the corresponding indicators were 20% and 17%, in Sweden – 13% and 10%, in Spain – 18% and 16%, in Poland – 12% and 11%, in Great Britain – 10% and 6%, and in the USA – 15 % and 13%.
If we take the aforementioned Italy, Greece, and Hungary, then 22%, 23%, and 31% of respondents, respectively, believe that NATO is doing "too much" for Ukraine. In Greece and Hungary, only 37% and 32% support maintaining sanctions against Russia, and only a fifth of Greek and Hungarian respondents supported NATO providing heavy weapons to Ukraine.
Also in Greece, Hungary and Italy were significantly more inclined to concessions to Russia: for example, 31% of respondents in Greece, 28% in Hungary and 23% in Italy spoke in favor of recognizing Russian sovereignty over Crimea, even if Russia does not give up any of the new Ukrainian territory.
A large majority in the Western Alliance countries (up to 78% in Sweden, Denmark and Great Britain) blame Russia for the current war in Ukraine, and correspondingly very low numbers (4% in Poland, 6% in Spain, 7% in France) West. In Greece and Hungary, however, only 37% and 35% said Russia was more to blame.
