Russians want Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan to join Common Economic Space - poll
MOSCOW. Nov 18 (Interfax) - Sixty-one percent of Russian citizens interviewed by the Public Opinion foundation said they were aware that Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan were forming a Common Economic Space.
Forty-three percent of respondents suggested that this initiative would do Russia more good than harm, 14% of those polled took the opposite view, and 43% were undecided.
Twenty-eight percent of respondents said they had heard nothing about the Common Economic Space project.
The public opinion survey was conducted in 43 Russian regions in mid- November and involved 1,500 respondents.
A total of 58% of those polled applauded the fact that citizens of the three countries would be able to freely choose where to live, study or work within the Common Economic Space, while 20% took the opposite view.
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said at the end of October that the Customs Union and the Common Economic Space were open to other countries, and Kyrgyzstan and subsequently Tajikistan could become its members in the future.
The possibility of Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan joining the Common Economic Space was supported by 43% of respondents, while 34% criticized such plans.
The respondents named a number of countries that they think could enter the Common Economic Space, should it be enlarged: Ukraine (24%), Armenia (19%), Tajikistan (15%), Uzbekistan (15%), Kyrgyzstan (15%), Azerbaijan (14%), Turkmenistan (13%), Moldova (13%), Georgia (6%), Latvia (6%), Lithuania (5%), and Estonia (4%).
Thirteen percent of those polled suggested that no new members would be admitted to the Common Economic Space.
The majority of respondents (61%) supported the integration of former Soviet republics, and 20% expressed the opposite opinion.
