Over Quarter of Europeans Say EU Imposed Sanctions Under US Pressure: Poll

MOSCOW, December 19 (Sputnik) — Twenty-seven percent of European Union citizens think that the bloc has implemented sanctions against Russia over the Ukrainian crisis under the influence of the United States, a poll conducted by the ICM Research exclusively for the Sputnik news agency revealed.

Thirty-seven percent of EU residents polled said that the European Union and the United States had acted together when imposing anti-Russian sanctions, while in Germany 47 percent thought that Washington and Berlin had taken the decision jointly.

In France, 33 percent of residents argued that the United States has influenced the bloc's decision to join the sanctions against Russia, while only 24 percent said that the European Union had made this decision independently.

In the United Kingdom, 17 percent did not have an opinion to the question, while a quarter of respondents said the European Union’s decision had been affected by Washington.

The ICM Research surveyed over 3,000 people in Germany, the United Kingdom, and France. Telephone interviews with adults, nationally representative of the above countries, were conducted in December 2014.

Over the past few months, several rounds of sanctions have been introduced against Russia by the European Union, the United States and their allies over Moscow’s alleged involvement in the Ukrainian crisis. The sanctions particularly targeted defense, energy and banking sectors of the Russian economy.

Moscow has repeatedly denied the Western accusations and said that the sanctions run counter to the principles of international law.