MENU
Documenting
war crimes in Ukraine

The Tribunal for Putin (T4P) global initiative was set up in response to the all-out war launched by Russia against Ukraine in February 2022.

Russians support Kremlin-backed militants, but don’t want open war

31.07.2014   
Russia’s authoritative Levada Centre has made public its latest public opinion survey which continues to show huge support for the Kremlin-backed militants in eastern Ukraine. Since it also finds that for 94% of the population, television is their main source of information, this is probably not surprising,

Russia’s authoritative Levada Centre has made public its latest public opinion survey which continues to show huge support for the Kremlin-backed militants in eastern Ukraine.  Since it also finds that for 94% of the population, television is their main source of information, this is probably not surprising, 

The survey carried out from 18-21 July found that 64% closely follow events in Ukraine.

94% say that television is their main source of information which the Levada Centre itself says results in the respondents being totally convinced that they are being presented with an objective view of reality. 

Asked whether they agreed that the Russian media are waging a propaganda information war against Ukraine. 15% said that yes, they agreed and approved of this, believing it justified by the situation in Ukraine; 10% said they agreed and consider the media policy to be dangerous and harmful; 58% are convinced that the Russian media give objective coverage  (17% didn’t know).

Do you think that Ukraine’s leaders were correct to begin their anti-terrorist operation in eastern Ukraine?

Definitely

2

Probably

14

Probably not

22

Definitely not

49

Hard to say

13

 

Do you agree or disagree with the following?

 

Definitely agree

Probably agree

Probably disagree

Totally disagree

Don’t know

Petro Poroshenko, recently elected President of Ukraine is the legitimate leader of the country

4

13

28

35

20

Russia was forced to bring troops into the Crimea to prevent bloodshed

32

37

11

8

12

The referendum in the Crimea on joining Russia was legal

51

35

3

1

10

The referendum in Donbas on joining Russia was legal

37

40

6

1

16

Putin should have sent troops to the south-east of Ukraine

9

20

31

20

20

Participation by Russian volunteers in the activities of the militants in the south-east of Ukraine is entirely legal and justified

19

47

12

4

19

 

How do you think the majority of people in the Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts view the following ..

 

Entirely positively.

Probably positively

Probably negatively

Definitely negatively

Don’t know

The latest actions by Ukraine’s leadership

1

4

24

60

11

The actions of the government forces and National Guard

1

7

22

55

15

The actions of the militants opposing the government forces and National Guard

20

48

8

3

21

The latest actions by Russia’s leadership

16

45

9

3

28

http://levada.ru/28-07-2014/ukrainskii-krizis-vnimanie-i-otsenki

With respect to the key role played by television in forming public opinion in Russia, see, for example:

New low in Russia’s propaganda war  where viewers heard graphic, and entirely fictitious, claims that the three-year-old son of a militant had been crucified and his mother tortured

Check your sources, Mr Lavrov where viewers were shown video footage from Fallujah (Iraq) in 2004 and told that this ‘proved’ that the Ukrainian military were using prohibited phosphorous bombs to destroy Semenivka near Slovyansk in eastern Ukraine

Such attempts to trick their audiences with footage from different conflicts altogether have been widely reported in Ukraine and abroad, but muffled by mainstream media sources in Russia

Russia Today’s “Genocide in Eastern Ukraine”: Sick, distorted and deleted  The lies in this purported ‘documentary’ were so gross that the film was removed from the RT

The above have stood out, however it should be realized that they are part of a daily diet of biased coverage and downright lies.  For most Russians there is also no alternative to this fare making it entirely realistic that a very large percentage simply don’t realize that they are being misled.

(Halya Coynash)

 Share this