MOSCOW, August 1 (RIA Novosti) - Two-thirds of Russians believe that the Ukrainian military is responsible for the crash of the Malaysia Airlines plane in eastern Ukraine, a public-opinion poll by the All-Russian Public Opinion Research Center (VCIOM) showed.
64 percent of respondents said the Ukrainian Army and the secret service were responsible for the plane crash, regardless of the cause of the incident. Another 16 percent blamed Western secret services and 2 percent - independence supporters in eastern Ukraine or Russian special services.
Most respondents, 61 percent, said a missile attack was the most likely cause of the crash. Other popular theories include a terrorist attack (14 percent), an accident (six percent), mechanical malfunction (three percent) and a pilot error (two percent).
Nearly all those surveyed, 94 percent, said they had heard about the MH17 crash previously, with the highest rates in Moscow and St Petersburg, where 99 percent of respondents are keeping up with news on the catastrophe.
The respondents hesitated when answering questions about the consequences of crash on Russia. Thirty-eight percent said there would be no consequences for Russia, while eight percent said the situation would aggravate the conflict between Russia and Europe, the United States and Ukraine. Seven percent of those polled expected additional Western sanctions and three percent said the incident could lead to a war.
The survey showed that Russians almost equally fractured on the issue of what the government's role in the conflict should be: a third advised the state to take the side of independence supporters, while only slightly fewer, 29 percent, are against any Russian involvement in the Ukrainian situation, and 28 percent say Russia should serve as mediator in the conflict resolving .
Approximately 1,600 people from 130 towns and cities and 42 Russian regions participated in the poll.
The Malaysia Airlines aircraft, flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, crashed in eastern Ukraine on July 17. All 298 people on board died.
Ukrainian authorities and the West have accused independence supporters of shooting down the plane with a missile, allegedly supplied by Russia. Moscow has denied supplying arms to the militia, and the latter said they did not possess the means to shoot down a plane at that height.
The United States and the European Union introduced the harshest rounds of sanctions against Russia to date following the crash.
