HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK
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Vremya Novostei
December 7, 2001
DECADE OF REGRET
Most Russians still wish for the Soviet Union
Author: Oleg Volkov
[from WPS Monitoring Agency, www.wps.ru/e_index.html]
THE LARGEST POLLING AGENCIES HAVE DONE SOME SURVEYS AND POLLS ON THE
EVE OF THE 10TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE BREAK-UP OF THE SOVIET UNION. YOUNG
PEOPLE ARE MORE INDIFFERENT TOWARD THE DISINTEGRATION OF THE SOVIET
STATE. A GROWING NUMBER OF RUSSIAN CITIZENS ARE CERTAIN THAT THE
COLLAPSE WAS INEVITABLE.
The largest polling agencies have done some surveys and polls on
the eve of the 10th anniversary of the Belovezhskaya Puscha accords,
to test the assumption that most Russians still wish for the return of
the Soviet Union. The existence of this majority has remained
virtually unchanged throughout the decade. However, pollsters now say
that certain changes are about to take place - or are taking place
already - in how Russian citizens appraise the events of December
1991. This is indicated by a poll done by the ROMIR agency. ROMIR
analyst Alexander Muzafarov attributes all of it to the gradual
appearance of a new generation. Elderly people who consider the Soviet
Union an integral part of their lives are noticeably more critical of
the Belovezhskaya Puscha accords. Young people are more indifferent
toward the disintegration of the Soviet state. They attribute it to
objective reasons (general collapse of the communist ideology, rather
than the ambitions of Mikhail Gorbachev or Boris Yeltsin) and view the
Soviet Union as part of history. Hence the growing number of Russian
citizens who are certain that the collapse was inevitable. The ranks
of Russian citizens who long for the lost empire are diminishing. Only
55% of respondents say they would prefer life before the reforms. This
figure was 64% two years ago.
Pollsters consider that nostalgia for the Soviet Union is fading
away, and this process is irreversible, although it is fairly slow.
While they more or less approve the idea of a union, Russian citizens
do not want money wasted on it. According to the Public Opinion
Foundation, only 22% of respondents believe that restoration of the
Soviet Union is possible.
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