A mere 4% of Russians believe that Russia is behind the hostilities in Ukraine’s eastern region of Donbas; half (50%) blame the US and Nato for the undeclared war that has been raging for more seven years, a new survey by independent pollster the Levada Center found.  

Ukraine has been fighting against Russia-backed separatists in the Donbas since 2014. Moscow denies participating in the conflict, despite overwhelming evidence that there are both regular Russian troops on the ground and that the separatists are being supplied and directed by Russian armed forces.  

However, relentless Russian propaganda on state-controlled media have convinced the majority of the Russian population that the Kremlin is blameless and that the US and Nato are fighting a proxy war to take control of Ukraine.  

Another 16% of respondents believe that Kyiv initiated the escalation and 3% that the self-declared republics of Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) and Luhansk People's Republic (LPR), set up by the rebels, are to blame for the conflict.  

Some 11% of respondents said that no one was to blame, 2% said someone else was responsible and 15% said they didn't know who was responsible.

Among Russians 55 years and older, 61% believe that the United States and Nato members are the initiators of the escalation in eastern Ukraine, while only a quarter (24%) of respondents aged 18-24 support this opinion. Representatives of the youngest category more than others (20%) are inclined to believe that the aggravation was initiated by Ukraine.

Despite the hostilities and recent warnings by the US intelligence services that Russia is preparing to invade Ukraine, few Russians see that as a possibility. Only 3% of respondents were confident that the current tension in the east of Ukraine may escalate into a war between Ukraine and Russia. Another third (36%) consider this scenario to be “quite probable” and almost the same number (38%) consider a war between the two countries "unlikely". Another 15% completely exclude possibility of war between Russia and Ukraine.  

“There is practically no difference in assessments of the situation between respondents from different socio-demographic groups,” Levada said commenting on the expectations of war by different age brackets.  

The Levada poll comes on top of a similar poll in Kyiv from the Rating Group published on December 10 that found three out of four (72%) Ukrainians believe Russia is a “hostile state.” Just 12% of Ukrainians said they see Russia as an ally, according to the Rating Group survey.