Briefly

• Today, Belarusians are treated the best in the south of Ukraine, the worst in the center and west of the country.

• The attitude towards Russians and Belarusians is very closely related, but it is much better towards Belarusians.

• Those who support Zelensky treat Belarusians worse than those who do not support him.

• Among the respondents who share the Soviet and Russian narratives, there is a larger share of those who have a good attitude towards Belarusians.

• Knowledge about the Belarusian protests of 2020 is quite broad, but less is known about anti-war protests and sabotage on the railways during the war.

Шостага ліпеня кіраўнік дасьледнага цэнтру Беларуская аналітычная майстэрня (БАМ), прафэсар Андрэй Вардамацкі прэзэнтаваў дадзеныя апошніх сацыялягічных апытаньняў у Беларусі і ва Ўкраіне.

Ва Ўкраіне вывучалася стаўленьне ўкраінцаў да беларусаў, адпаведнае тэлефоннае апытаньне ўкраінскіх рэспандэнтаў правялі ў канцы траўня ў супрацы БАМ з адным з самых аўтарытэтных украінскіх сацыялягічных цэнтраў, Кіеўскім міжнародным інстытутам сацыялёгіі (КМІС).

Мы папрасілі пракамэнтаваць дадзеныя апытаньня ва Ўкраіне Ўладзіміра Паніёту, генэральнага дырэктара КМІС, прафэсара катэдры сацыялёгіі ўнівэрсытэту «Кіева-Магілянская акадэмія».

- In a survey conducted by the Ukrainian National Security Agency and BAM in Ukraine, 84% of respondents said that Belarus is an accomplice in the military conflict in Ukraine.

But at the same time, there are noticeably fewer of those who said that their attitude towards Belarusians, citizens of Belarus, has worsened - 68%.

What explains this gap of 16 percentage points?

- I believe that the differences are related to who the respondents consider responsible for Belarus' participation in the conflict.

68% probably believe that the citizens of Belarus are also responsible for Belarus' participation in the conflict, that they also either support Belarus' participation in the war, or do not protest actively enough.

And 16%, although they consider Belarus to be a participant in the military conflict, think that the citizens of Belarus are against the war, but they cannot do anything, the country's leadership is to blame for everything.

— Another gap: 68% said that they began to treat Belarusians worse, but only 48% said that they are treated badly now.

How can this gap be explained?

- Attitude is defined by a continuum that is not limited by the dichotomy "good - bad".

Even in our simplified measurements, we use a scale of "good", "mostly good", "mostly bad", "poor".

The attitude can deteriorate from "good" to "mostly good" or to "neutral" without becoming bad.

The real continuum can be much wider than the one we use in research.

For example, in a family, relations can deteriorate over the years and only after, say, 10 years, get bad and lead to divorce.

— How is the current attitude of Ukrainians to Belarusians related to the socio-demographic characteristics and political preferences of the respondents?

— The attitude of Ukrainians towards Belarusians is most significantly influenced by the region of residence: about 40% of residents of the west and center of Ukraine, about 50% of the south and about 44% of the east have a positive attitude towards Belarusians (but there are active hostilities there and there are occupied territories where it is more difficult to carry out polls, because Ukrainian communication operators are disconnected somewhere).

South-eastern regions of Ukraine were closer to Russia in terms of orientation, were more "Soviet" and treated Russians and Belarusians better (after the start of the war, however, regional differences significantly decreased).

In the city, Belarusians are treated better than in the countryside (46% and 39%, respectively), but this is due to the fact that the south and east are more urbanized than the west, so the percentage of westerners is higher among rural residents, and the percentage is higher among urban residents the percentage of residents of the south and east who have a better attitude towards Belarusians.

According to gender and age, there are no differences in attitudes towards Belarusians.

The attitude towards Russians and Belarusians is very closely related.

11% of respondents (mainly residents of the south and east) have a positive attitude towards Russians in Ukraine, while 90% of them also have a positive attitude towards Belarusians.

As for political views, higher support for the leadership of Ukraine is associated with a positive assessment of both Russians and Belarusians.

Among those who approve

38% have a positive attitude towards Belarusians, and among those who do not support him, 55%.

- According to the survey, 27% of respondents said that Ukrainians and Belarusians are one nation.

How is the attitude towards Belarusians and the attitude towards Soviet and Russian narratives related?

- There is a significant connection here.

Among those who believe that Ukrainians and Belarusians are one people, 63% have a positive attitude towards Belarusians, and among those who disagree with this thesis, only 35%.

The more the respondent is inclined to support Soviet and Russian narratives, the better the attitude towards Belarusians.

For example, 58% of Belarusians support the thesis that "the Western countries specially pumped up Ukraine with weapons and tried to involve it in a war against Russia", and 42% of those who do not agree.

- In disputes about the responsibility of Belarusians for attacks on Ukraine, it is not uncommon to talk about relatively massive anti-war protests in Belarus, including sabotage on the railway, about the Belarusian protests of 2020, about the illegitimacy of Lukashenka.

According to your assessment, how widely is this known in Ukraine and to what extent does this knowledge determine the attitude towards Belarusians?

— The Belarusian protests of 2020 and doubts about Lukashenka's legitimacy were regularly and long enough covered in the media at one time and, it seems to me, are well known to the population of Ukraine.

As for anti-war protests and sabotage in Belarus, it seems to me that, against the background of many events related to the war, this information is not so noticeable.

I think that those who are familiar with this information treat Belarusians better than those who are unfamiliar.