Nearly a half of Ukrainians doubt their country is "genuinely independent," the UNIAN news agency said on Saturday, citing a recent opinion poll.
According to the poll, 44.7% of over 2,000 respondents said they don't think Ukraine is a "genuinely independent country," while 43.2% said they do - which is more than in 2006-2008, UNIAN said, but less than in 2005, following Ukraine's glorious Orange Revolution.
Ukraine is still struggling to recover from the disillusionment of the post-revolution period, which saw the country's economic slump exacerbating and ex-president Viktor Yushchenko failing to deliver on most of his election promises.
Since Viktor Yanukovych replaced Yushchenko as president in February, Ukraine has been undergoing something of an economic revival but a revival which the opposition says has way too often come at the expense of the country's national interests.
The extension of Russia's lease on a naval base in Ukraine's Sevastopol and a possible merger between Russia's energy giant Gazprom and Ukraine's Naftogaz, proposed by Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, have sparked fears that Ukraine's sovereignty may be at risk.
KIEV, August 21 (RIA Novosti)
