Almost every second German resident supports the use of frozen Russian assets in Europe for the benefit of Ukraine, according to a sociological survey conducted by the INSA Institute for the Sunday edition of the popular newspaper “Bild“ and quoted by DPA, BTA reports.
47 percent of those surveyed answered the question in the affirmative. 34 percent disagreed, 12 percent refused to answer, and 7 percent said they were not interested in the topic.
The survey was conducted among a representative sample of 1,003 people between December 11 and 12.
The survey concerns the assets of the Russian Central Bank frozen in the European Union, which amount to about 210 billion euros. On Friday, the EU created a legal basis for the use of the money for Ukraine. Twenty-five of the 27 member states voted to ban the return of the assets to Russia for an indefinite period.
On the issue of direct German aid to Kiev, the survey participants are divided. Of these, 44 percent support Germany supporting Ukraine next year in the same or greater amount than this year, 42 percent want the aid to be less, 9 percent did not answer, and 5 percent were not interested in the question.
The INSA survey shows that the majority of Germans, 53 percent, do not expect Russia's war against Ukraine to end next year, 31 percent are more optimistic, and 16 percent did not answer.