Independent Poll Reveals Many Europeans, Americans See Crimea as Russian

More than a third of Italians and Germans perceive Crimea as part of Russia; the viewpoint is also held by 26 percent of Britons, 23 percent of Americans and 20 percent of French people, according to the latest poll released by Sputnik. According to TNS Global, an independent research company with offices in over 80 countries, at least 34 percent of Italians and 36 percent of Germans polled believe that Crimea is an essential part of Russia, a standpoint that was shared by 26 percent of British respondents and 23 percent of Americans. Additionally, at least 20 percent of French respondents perceive Crimea as part of Russia. The poll coincided with the third anniversary of a referendum on Crimea's nationality, which showed that more than 90 percent of voters supported the peninsula's reunification with Russia. The poll was conducted on Sputnik's behalf; respondents were asked to finish the sentence 'Based on what you have seen or heard, do you consider Crimea to be…' Their options were: 'part of Russia', 'not part of Russia', and 'I don't know'. Interestingly, in France older respondents saw Crimea as Russian territory, which wasn't the case with Germany, where mostly young people supported the idea that Crimea is part of Russia. The most popular answer was "I don't know." This was selected by 51 percent of Americans, 48 percent of French and 44 percent of Britons. TNS Global, which conducted the poll between February 16 and February 22, is one of the largest international research companies engaged in polling. Taking part in the poll were 5,138 respondents from France, Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom and the United States. On March 16, 2014, several weeks after a violent coup deposed the democratically elected government of Ukraine in Kiev and Russian-speakers were targeted with language restrictions, Crimeans voted on whether or not to rejoin Russia. The vast majority of the voters (96.77 percent) supported reunification. According to Mikhail Malyshev, head of the Crimean referendum commission, voter turnout was 83.1 percent. Read more: https://sputniknews.com/world/201703161051632757-russia-crimea-poll-respondents-territory/