One-third of Ukrainians do not want Jews in their country, a new survey has found

Vladimir Matveyev:

Conducted by the Kiev International Institute of Sociology, the study found that 36 percent of respondents do not want to see Jews as citizens of Ukraine, compared to 26 percent in a similar survey conducted in 1994.

The survey of 2,000 respondents in 24 regions of Ukraine was conducted Oct. 13-24 and had a margin of error of plus or minus 2 percentage points.

Researchers also found that anti-Semitic attitudes were especially widespread among younger respondents. According to the survey, 45 percent of respondents ages 18 to 20 do not want to see Jews as citizens of Ukraine. The survey also registered a high level of xenophobia and racial bias in Ukrainian society, particularly toward Roma, or Gypsies, and black people.

"The attitude toward Jews is not the worst; it's in the middle of our diagram," Vladimir Panioto, director of the Kiev International Institute of Sociology, told JTA. "Ukrainians harbor even more negative feelings to gypsies and black people."

Regarding Roma, 71.8 percent of respondents said they did not want to see them as citizens of Ukraine, and 61.4 percent expressed a similar attitude toward ethnic Romanians.

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