Referring to a survey conducted by the Eurasian Monitor organization, the paper wrote that Russians did not find attractive the Common Economic Space (CES), the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) or even a united Europe.
The survey showed that Russia was the most isolationist country of the four CES member states (Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, and Ukraine). A total of 30% of the Russian respondents said they preferred to live "in their own country, without unions with other countries," whereas 27% said they dreamed about a "revived U.S.S.R."
People in the other CES countries were more enthusiastic about integration. In Belarus, 24% were in favor the Common Economic Space, and 22% a united Europe, whereas only 21% said Belarus should live on its own. In Kazakhstan, 27% voted for the Common Economic Space and 25% for living on their own. Ukraine turned out to be the most integrationist state with 30% of respondents in favor of integrating with a united Europe and 26% with the CES.
Valery Fyodorov, the director of All-Russian Center for Public Opinion Studies (VTsIOM), explained, "Russia is the only self-sustained country," whereas the other three countries "have to look for integration options." The paper also wrote that Fyodorov had said Russians had heard a great deal about various integration projects in the last 10 years, but they had had little effect on people's lives.
VTsIOM polled 1,600 people in Russia for the Eurasia Monitor project; the Novak social laboratory polled 1,100 in Belarus; the Donetsk Information and Analysis Center polled 2,100 in Ukraine; and in Kazakhstan, the think tank TsESSI-Kazakhstan polled 1,500.
