One-third of residents of Latvia believe Russia’s incursion into Ukraine justified

  • 2014-03-11
  • From wire reports, RIGA

One-third of Latvia's residents believe that Russia's incursion in Ukraine is justified. The proportion of non-Latvians who believe Russia is justified in its actions is twice as high, according to a study carried out by the research company "GfK" in cooperation with the news agency LETA.

16 percent of respondents said they considered Russia's decision to bring troops to Crimea and, potentially, in other regions of Eastern Ukraine completely justified, whereas 18 percent said this was partly justified.

Most respondents, 58 percent, said they disapproved of Russia's actions in Ukraine, whereas 8 percent had no opinion.

Among Latvian respondents, 6 percent said the presence of Russian troops in Ukraine was justified, 11 percent said it was partly justified. 77 percent said they disapproved of Russia's incursion into Ukraine. Among non-Latvian respondents, 34 percent said the presence of Russia's troops in Ukraine was completely justified, 32 percent said it was partly justified, whereas 24 percent said it was unjustified.

The survey was carried out at the beginning of March when "GfK" interviewed 1,051 residents ages 18 to 65.

As reported, Russia occupied the Crimean peninsula at the end of February. Heavily armed Russian soldiers in uniforms without insignia have blocked all strategic sites in Crimea, including Ukrainian army bases.