KIEV, February 27 (RIA Novosti, Vladimir Suprun) - About 50% of Ukrainians want to live back in the Soviet Union, a national pollster said Monday.
According to the survey conducted by the Razumkov center of economic and political research, 20.4% of respondents said they wanted the Soviet Union and the socialist system to be restored, and 28.3% said they wanted this as well, but believed it was impossible under the present conditions.
A total of 51.3% of respondents were against a return to Soviet times.
More than 57% of the Ukrainian respondents said Russian should be made the official or state language in certain regions, whereas 35% were against this.
According to the survey, 42.2% of respondents said relations with Russia were a priority, 12% - with former Soviet republics, 25.4% - with the European Union and only 1.5% - with the United States.
Meanwhile, only 16% said they were in favor of Ukraine's possible accession to NATO, whereas 61.4% said they did not support the idea.
The nationwide poll, based on interviews with 2,009 adults, was conducted prior to the 15th anniversary of the referendum on the preservation of the Soviet Union. The margin of error did not exceed 2%.
On March 17, 1991, more than 70% of Ukrainians voted for preserving the U.S.S.R.
