In Belarus, sociologists studied the attitude of the respondents to the war waged by Russia;

in Ukraine — the attitude of Ukrainians to Belarusians and Belarus.

A telephone survey of 1,000 people representing the entire adult population of Belarus was conducted in mid-May.

The previous similar survey was conducted in March.

One of the main conclusions of the May survey is that the geopolitical preferences of Belarusians have practically not changed.

In the choice between integration with Russia and the European Union, the advantage is still on the side of the Russian Federation, and in the same proportions as in March.

In your opinion, in which union will the people of Belarus live better - in the European Union or in the union with Russia?

The orange line is in the union with Russia, the


blue line is in the European Union

However, at the same time, various aspects of the Russian war in Ukraine are condemned by many respondents, and support for Russia in these issues is decreasing.

According to the March survey of the Belarusian Analytical Workshop, only 11% were in favor of the participation of the Belarusian army in the war, now this small share has decreased further, albeit slightly.

The evaluations of other aspects of Russian policy related to the war also decreased, just as slightly.

Also, the share of respondents who are in favor of maintaining Belarus' membership in the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) has also decreased.

As in the March poll, a relative majority is in favor of the non-white status of Belarus.

As Professor

Vardomatsky pointed out,

only future polls will show whether this worsening attitude towards certain aspects of Russian politics will affect the general attitude of Belarusians towards Russia, towards the union of Belarus with it.

When asked whether Belarus is an accomplice to the military conflict in Ukraine, only a third of the respondents answered positively.

According to the head of the research, the most common motivations for a negative answer to this question are: "What war, we do not participate in any war" and "I am against what the Belarusian government is doing in connection with the war, so why are Belarusians complicit?".

A big block of the presentation was the joint research of the Belarusian Analytical Workshop and the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology (KIIS).

At the end of May, KMIS and BAM conducted a representative survey in Ukraine on the attitude of Ukrainians to Belarusians.

The obtained results in many respects coincide with the previous data of Ukrainian sociologists in this matter.

According to the May survey of the KMIS and BAM, after the start of the large-scale war of Russia against Ukraine, in which the state of Belarus supported Russia, the attitude of the vast majority of Ukrainians towards Belarusians worsened.

When asked whether Belarus is an accomplice to the military conflict in Ukraine, the vast majority of Ukrainians answered positively.

The data of this graph contrasts with the answers of Belarusians to a similar question (see above).

But as a result, Ukrainian society in its attitude towards Belarusians turned out to be divided almost in half.

A comparison of previous graphs regarding the survey in Ukraine shows that not all Ukrainians, whose attitude towards Belarusians has worsened and who believe that Belarus is a participant in the conflict, began to treat their northern neighbors worse.

Ukrainians gave interesting answers to the question of whether they consider themselves and Belarusians to be one people.

A good part, I think, although it is smaller than the share of those who have maintained a good attitude towards Belarusians.

For comparison, in the same poll of the CSI and BAM, less than 10% of Ukrainians answered that they consider Ukrainians and Russians to be the same people.

Returning to the May poll in Belarus, Andrei Vardomatsky showed how Belarusians answer the question about one nation, both about themselves and about Ukrainians and Russians.

Andrei Vardomatski's presentation is available on the YouTube channel of the Press Club.