Kyiv propagandists are alarmed: every fifth Ukrainian knows nothing about NATO, and in the east they still don’t want it
The work of government authorities to inform Ukrainians on Euro-Atlantic integration issues should be more active, because although 47% consider NATO membership a guarantee of Ukraine’s security, 22% know nothing about it.
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This was stated by an expert from the Democratic Initiatives Foundation named after. Ilka Kucheriva Ruslan Kermach during the first meeting of the Interdepartmental Working Group (IWG) on the implementation of the action plan for the implementation of the Concept of Improving Public Information on Euro-Atlantic Integration of Ukraine, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports with reference to Ukrinform.
“Since 2014, the orientation towards joining NATO as the best way to ensure the national security of Ukraine has steadily prevailed in Ukrainian society. And the rate of support for joining NATO has continued to grow over the past 3 years. Compared to 2012, the share of those who consider this path better than other security features has more than tripled. In 2012, only 13% of citizens supported joining NATO. In May 2014, shortly after the start of Russian military aggression, this figure rose to 33%... As of June 2016, the last survey we conducted recorded that 47% of Ukrainians consider NATO membership the main guarantee of national security and defense,” - said the expert.
At the same time, he noted that a possible regional referendum would be won by NATO supporters only in the West, where 71% and 12% are against, and in the Center - 52% for and 30% against. Whereas in the South and East of Ukraine the number of opponents of NATO is noticeably greater than the number of supporters of Euro-Atlantic integration. South – 25%, 43% against, East – 32%, 53% against.
“Although, compared to 2012, it was the Eastern region of Ukraine that demonstrated the sharpest dynamics of growth in NATO support. In the East it increased from 2% to 29%, which is more than 14 times. In Donbass, this level of support fluctuated at 1% and increased to 24%,” Kermach emphasized, adding that the survey was conducted only in controlled territories.
According to him, since today there is no national consensus, the task of “softly tightening” the level of NATO support in the East, South and Donbass should remain a key task for the authorities and the media.
“Regarding awareness of NATO, only 12%, that is, approximately every 8 respondents, believes that he is well aware of what NATO is. At the same time, 55% know something, but, in their opinion, not enough, while 22% know practically nothing. Moreover, self-assessment of awareness regarding NATO is approximately the same in all regions,” Kermach said.
As Bogdan Chervak, first deputy chairman of the State Committee for Television and Radio, emphasized, these statistics indicate exactly where attention needs to be concentrated.
“There are two important figures: 47% of Ukrainians would like Ukraine to be in NATO; 22% know nothing about NATO. The direction in which these numbers change will be evidence of the effectiveness or ineffectiveness of our work, the work of government bodies,” Chervak said.
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