Kyiv International Institute of Sociology conducted a survey «Counteraction to Russian Propaganda in the Conflict Region» by the order of NGO Telekritika. Interviews were held from February 26 to February 28, 2015 and covered citizens of five regions - Kharkiv, Odesa, Kherson, Donetsk, and Luhansk including the occupied areas. 

Key findings

• The study showed, that residents of southern and eastern regions  use television as a main source of information about Ukraine: 83% of the respondents receive news from the national TV channels. About 1/3 of respondents watch Russian TV channel “RTR”; Russian TV channels “NTV” and “ORT” have the same indexes; 17% of the respondents receive “RBK.” 
• The most demanded information in the ATO zone is about disappeared civilians and Ukrainian soldiers, local and state power actions. 
• Residents of south and east gradually experience escalating disillusionment with any media content. Residents of Ukrainian control areas believe Ukrainian sources and consider Russian media to be biased and nonobjective. 
• Residents of ossupied areas - People’s Republic of Donetsk (PRD)  and People’s Republic of Luhansk (PRL) - have opposite perception and do not trust to Ukrainian media.  
• Russian propaganda is steadily winning at the occupied territories. Other south-eastern regions demonstrate no support for the messages of Russian propaganda. The least popular are the messages like “Maidan is a fascist revolution.” The latter is supported by 27% and not supported by 54%.
• The assessment of the Maidan outcomes is rather pessimistic. The overwhelming majority (66%) think that the main consequences of Maidan are the annexation of the Crimea, the war conflict in Donbas and the economic breakdown in Ukraine. The opponents make up only 15%.
• Despite the disillusionment with the Ukrainian power, the ideas of separatism at the territories under Ukrainian control have not taken root. 84% consider that Donbas should remain a part of Ukraine. As for “people’s republics,” 50% would like to separate, while another 50% are likely to scrutinize the opportunity to remain within Ukraine provided that the status of the territory is changed.

 

 

Analytical report on the study “Counteraction to Russian Propaganda in the Conflict Region” is avaible online at http://osvita.mediasapiens.ua/monitoring/in_english/analytical_report_on_the_study_counteraction_to_russian_propaganda_in_the_conflict_region

The sample of the survey is representative for adult urban population of five oblasts: Kharkiv, Odesa, Kherson, Donetsk, and Luhansk (including the regions being at entry out of the Ukrainian control). All in all, there were 561 interviews conducted in 124 communities by the CATI method (computer-assisted telephone interviewing).

The representation sample is stratified according to oblast and community type (regional centre, cities with population over 100,000 inhabitants, cities with population from 20,000 to 99,000 inhabitants, towns with population less than 20,000 inhabitants). Besides, Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts were divided into the territory under the Ukrainian control and the territory controlled by «People’s Republic of Donetsk» (PRD) or «People’s Republic of Luhansk» (PRL). Several random telephone numbers were selected from the database within each stratum. A quota selection of respondents by gender and age was applied at the last phase of the survey. The influence of inner migration from the ATO zone on the actual number of population in each oblast was calculated according to the public information of the UN Refugee Agency. The survey has taken to account the UN Refugee Agency information on the percentage of inner migrants in other oblasts and the results of the previous KIIS studies intended to find out the amounts and direction of migration from «People’s Republic of Donetsk,» «People’s Republic of Luhansk» and front line territories of Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts. Therefore, the ratio of respondents from PRD and PRL has been reduced from 37% to 27%.