MOSCOW. April 1 (Interfax) - A survey suggests that nearly 90% of Russians have heard of the militant nationalist movement led by Stepan Bandera, which was active in western Ukraine during and after World War II, and about its modern followers in Ukraine.
About 40% of Russians know about the objectives of today's followers of Bandera, Russian opinion studies group VCIOM said in a report on Monday.
VCIOM said 59% of elderly respondents but only 17% of the young ones knew about the modern version of the Bandera movement. The movement was also well known among supporters of the Russian Communist Party (59%) and among people living in Moscow or St. Petersburg (52%).
VCIOM said 91% of those questioned saw Bandera's followers as "primarily a semi-fascist movement terrorizing ethnic Russians, Jews and members of other ethnic groups," 82% thought of them as a direct threat to Ukraine's Russian-speaking community, and 76% considered them stooges of the West.
Moreover, 73% of respondents believed the majority of Ukrainians are against the Bandera movement, and 56% thought followers of Bandera make up the majority of today's Ukrainian government.
There was strong emotional antagonism to Bandera's followers among the respondents, with 38% condemning them, 33% being "antipathetic" to them, and 28% hating them. Also, 13% mistrusted the movement, and 10% feared it.
Only 13% were absolutely indifferent to Bandera's followers.
VCIOM interviewed 1,600 people in 42 Russian regions during its poll, taken on March 15-16. It put the margin of error at 3.4%.