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Ukrainians on their foreign policy sympathies - poll

Ukrainians want the country's economic recovery and strengthening national defence.

Ukrainians on their foreign policy sympathies - poll

The citizens of Ukraine favour the foreign policy model of Switzerland, a poll by the World Policy Institute found out.

"For Ukrainians, the most favoured foreign policy models are those of Switzerland (12.2%), Poland (11.2%) and Germany (11.2%)", Poland and Germany, the deputy head of the pollster Serhiy Dolodkyy said during the presentation of the results of the poll on 14 September.

The United States were also among the leaders of the foreign policy sympathies of Ukrainians (8%), closely followed by Belarus, Israel, United Kingdom and Canada. These eight leaders scored about the same support of about 10%, plus or minus 2-3%.

The foreign policy model of other countries proved much less popular among Ukrainians. For example, Georgia's foreign policy was supported by 3.1%, of the Russian Federation - 3%.

Other countries, like France and China, have garnered less than 1% backing. Turkey's foreign policy model was supported by 0.2% of the polled.

"Firstly, the poll's findings suggest the vector of sympathies of citizens to economization and economic reconstruction of the country (which explains the presence of strong economies like Switzerland among the leaders of sympathies, or recovering economies like Poland). Another trend is strengthening the defence capacity of Ukraine, which found reflection in the choice of Israel, Georgia, Great Britain and the United States," said Solodkyy.

"With regard to the regional preferences, Russian model is liked by only 5% of respondents in the east of Ukraine, and by mere 1% in other regions. Switzerland is popular in the south and in the northern regions of Ukraine Poland is popular in Kyiv and the west, but also the southern regions of Ukraine. German foreign policy model is favoured in central Ukraine and, oddly enough, in the east - 10%," he concluded.

A survey, published in late August, showed that two-thirds of Ukrainians would like to move abroad.

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