Over half of Russians regret dissolution of Soviet Union - poll
MOSCOW. Dec 23 (Interfax) - The share of Russians aware of the Bela Vezha agreement signed on December 8, 1991, which terminated the Soviet Union and created the CIS, has declined from 67% to 56% over the past decade, the Russian Public Opinion Study Center (VTsIOM) said.
Another 26% 'have heard something' about the agreement, and the share of respondents who learned about the agreement from the sociologists has increased from 7% in 2006 to 15% now.
The number of respondents who regret that the Soviet Union is gone has not changed much over the years (63% at present vs. 65% in 2006). The older the respondents are the more pronounced their attitude is: 85% of senior citizens feel sorry about the collapse of the former Soviet Union, and the percentage is 27% in the younger generation.
Russians have grown positive that it was possible to save the Soviet Union: that opinion was maintained by 47% of respondents in 2006 and 56% now. Some 32% disagreed and said that the breakdown of the Soviet Union was unavoidable, and 12% were undecided. The sociologists polled 1,600 respondents in 130 populated localities in 46 regions on November 5-6.
Most Russians (68% now and 69% in 2006) believe it is impossible to reconstruct the former Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. However, 52% support the idea of a new union between former Soviet republics (sharing a border, parliament, government and currency), and 17% are against.
