A Levada Centre poll published on 11 June 2019 has found the highest support for Ukraine’s Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts “becoming a part of the Russian Federation since March – April 2014. Although the 27 % support is still very far from the 48% who wanted to annex more of Ukrainian territory in the period immediately following Russia’s invasion and annexation of Crimea, it is a clear increase on previous years. It would require more monitoring to determine whether the increase is directly linked with Russian President Vladimir Putin’s decree simplifying the illegal process by which Ukrainians in occupied Donbas can receive Russian citizenship, or whether that decree has been accompanied by a propaganda campaign on Russian state-controlled media.
Russia's War Against Ukraine
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Halya Coynash: Almost 1/3 of Russians want to annex Ukrainian Donbas
Russian Trade Unions' members holding balloons, flags and artificial flowers parade on Red Square during their May Day demonstration in Moscow on May 1, 2019. (Photo by Yuri KADOBNOV / AFP)
