POPULATION OF SVERDLOVSK UNENTHUSIASTIC ABOUT SOVIET RESTORATION…

The first opinion poll to assess the views of the Russian population on restoring the USSR found that only 14 percent of those questioned considered it an important task and less than one-third supported the Duma’s March 15 denunciation of the Belovezhye accords. (Monitor, April 4) This conclusion is supported by reports recently received by the Monitor from the important industrial region of Sverdlovsk in the Urals. There, reaction to the Duma vote is reported to have been muted. Neither the governor of Sverdlovsk Oblast nor the mayor of the provincial capital, Yekaterinburg, made any public pronouncement. Naturally, local Communists expressed approval, while leaders of parties such as Yabloko and "Russia is Our Home" were critical. The local press was also critical, and the local Communist party complained that the facts had been deliberately distorted to put the Communists in a bad light.

In a poll of Yekaterinburg residents, 11 percent expressed full approval of the Duma decision; 25 percent said they thought it was probably correct; 38 percent said it was a mistake; and 10 percent said it was criminal. A similar breakdown emerged when respondents were asked whether the USSR should be reestablished: 10 percent thought it definitely should; 25 percent thought it probably should; 27 percent thought it was probably unnecessary; while 25 percent were completely opposed.

…Similar Reaction In Perm.