KYIV. Nov 11 (Interfax) - Nearly all (96.2%) people living in the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republics (DPR and LPR) blame the post-Maidan Ukrainian authorities for the conflict in Donbas and only 28.4% lay this responsibility on Russia, according to the findings of a joint survey conducted by the Ukrainian Institute of the Future and the weekly newspaper Dzerkalo Tyzhnia with the assistance of New Image Marketing Group, which were unveiled on Saturday.
Eighty-five point three per cent blame local Maidan activists for the war, 76.7% the European Union, 89.2% the United States, and 79.9% the pre-Maidan government of Viktor Yanukovych.
At the same time, local anti-Maidan activists are blamed by 45.6% and the DPR/LPR by 29.2%.
The poll also found that 57.8% of residents of Ukraine's breakaway region consider themselves to be Ukrainian citizens, despite 34.8% holding DPR or LPR passports. Six point eight per cent have Russian citizenship; 42.9% never considered applying for one.
35.4% linked improvements in their financial situation to integration with Russia and only 3.5% correlated them with re-integration with Ukraine. Ukraine can still help the republics stabilize economically by giving them a broad autonomy, 9.9% of respondents said.
The current balance of forces or the creation of an independent state (effectively, a frozen conflict) is acceptable for 10.9%. A quarter (26.8%) are expecting the situation to get worse in the event of returning under Ukraine's control in whatever status. Another 23.1% said the economy will decline in the event of self-determination or the conflict being frozen. And 6.8% would be wary of unification with Russia. When asked whether they thought the economic situation in their region would improve or worsen, 40.2% and 43.3%, respectively, could not or would not say what or who this might be to do with.
More than half (63.3%) said that the process of rebuilding the war-damaged areas must be funded by Ukraine but overseen by Russia. Eighteen point five per cent said the region should be able to manage on its own, 17% insisted on U.S. funding. 16.5% expected EU financial aid, and only 16% said the funding should be provided by Russia.
As for control over reconstruction, the results were reverse: 67% wanted the process controlled by local authorities, 50.2% by Russia, and 24.9% by Ukraine; 8.1% would entrust it to the EU and only 2.4% to the U.S.
The face-to-face survey polled 1,606 respondents (800 in the LPR and 906 in the DPR) on October 7-31, using the 2014 statistics for comparison, after controlling for existing demographic data on temporarily displaced people who left the territories. The margin of error: 3.2%.