(CNN) — As the world waits to see if Russia will invade Ukraine, an exclusive new poll of both countries for CNN finds that twice as many Russians believe it would be right for Moscow to use military force to prevent Kyiv from joining the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) as say it would be wrong.
One out of every two Russians (50%) says it would be right, while only a quarter (25%) say it would be wrong. The other quarter (25%) are unsure, according to the survey.
But the poll also found that more Russians think it would be wrong than right to use military force “to reunite Russia and Ukraine” – two countries with a long and complicated history of being intertwined.
It’s a close call, but 43% of Russians said use of military force against Ukraine to join it to Russia would be wrong, while 36% said it would be right. (The rest of the respondents said they didn’t know if it would be right or wrong.)
Perhaps unsurprisingly, most people in Ukraine disagree with the use of force against them. Seven out of 10 respondents there said it would be wrong for Russia to use military force to prevent Ukraine from joining NATO (70%) or to reunite the two countries (73%).
Contents
One in two Russians feels the use of force is justified to keep Ukraine from joining NATO
We asked: Would it be right for Russia to use military force …
… to prevent Ukraine from joining NATO
Yes Don’t know No
Ukrainian respondents
Yes Don’t know No
… to “reunite Russia and Ukraine”
Russian respondents
Ukrainian respondents
… if Russia feels threatened by foreign activity in former Soviet countries
Russian respondents
Ukrainian respondents
And most Ukrainians reject Russian President Vladimir Putin’s assertion in a speech on Monday that their country has no historical basis and is essentially a creation of the Soviet Union.
Across the country and across all ages, a majority of Ukrainians say they are not “one people” with Russians and that the two countries should…
Source : cnn
