MOSCOW, October 7 (RIA Novosti) - Less than 10 percent of French people are in favor of the European Union's supply of weapons and financial assistance to the Ukrainian government, according to an ICM poll commissioned by Rossiya Segodnya International Information Agency.
According to the poll, 57 percent of French residents believe that the role of the European Union in solving the Ukrainian crisis should amount to humanitarian aid supplies to civilians, while 39 percent are in support of an EU peacekeeping mission.
Only 7 percent of those polled said they were in favor of military equipment and weapon supplies to the Ukrainian government, while 8 percent said the European Union should provide financial aid to the Kiev authorities.
Forty-eight percent of those polled said the European Union should intervene in the situation in Ukraine. Fifty-five percent of young French people and 52 percent of middle-aged French residents said they were in favor of EU intervention. Older people were less enthusiastic about it – only 45 percent of those aged 65 and over said they were in favor of the European Union intervening in the Ukrainian crisis.
Thirty-five percent said the European Union should not intervene. This stance was taken by 40 percent of those falling in the 55-64 age group.
The ICM poll showed that over 70 percent of French people think that if the European Union intervenes in the Ukrainian crisis, all EU countries should act collectively. French men, at 78 percent, expressed more support for collective action than women, at 70 percent.
According to the poll, 83 percent of the French population is aware of the situation in Ukraine. French teens know the least about the events in Ukraine – 43 percent of 15-17 year-olds and 67 percent of those falling in the 18-24 age group know about the crisis. Older people, aged 65 and over, showed the greatest awareness of current events in Ukraine, at 93 percent. Men, at 84 percent, are more aware of what is going on in Ukraine than women, at 82 percent.
Only 17 percent of the respondents said they did not know about the Ukrainian crisis at all.
Ukraine has been engulfed in a violent internal conflict since mid-April, when Kiev began a military operation against independence supporters in the southeastern regions of the country. According to the latest UN estimates, more than 3,600 people have died in the conflict.
The ICM poll on Ukraine was conducted by telephone among 3,006 randomly selected people on September 17-28, 2014. The poll covered the France, Germany and the United Kingdom. ICM abides by the rules of the British Polling Council, of which it is a member.
