Over half Ukrainians oppose severing relations with Russia. Russia currently has no ambassador in Kiev

More than half of Ukrainians did not support severing relations between their country and Russia, a recent opinion poll showed Tuesday.

The poll, conducted by the Kiev-based Razumkov Center, found that 55 percent of the respondents opposed the possible break of diplomatic relations between Kiev and Moscow, while 24.8 percent thought the opposite.

At the same time, the survey indicated that 52.1 percent of those polled objected an introduction of visa regime between Ukraine and Russia, while the share of people, who supported this initiative, is only 29 percent.

The nation-wide survey was carried out among 2,018 people from Sept. 9 to 14 and its margin of error was within plus or minus 2.3 percent.

The row between Kiev and Moscow erupted two years ago over different views on the unrest in Crimea and Ukraine's eastern regions. The tensions escalated in August after Russia's Federal Security Service has accused Ukrainian authorities of masterminding an attempt to send a group of saboteurs to Crimea. Kiev denied the accusations.

Following the incident, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said that Moscow could sever diplomatic ties with Ukraine.

Russia currently has no ambassador in Kiev after Mikhail Zurabov was relieved of his duties in July.
 [Xinhua/china]
28/9/16