Ukraine Is Not Russia: These Are Two Different Civilisational Dimensions

The vast majority of Ukrainians believe that Ukraine is not Russia. Such data were obtained during the nationwide sociological survey “Who are we? Ukrainians’ Portrait through Ukrainians’ Eyes,” conducted by the Ukrainian Institute for the Future among 5,000 respondents.

According to Ukrainians, we differ from Russians as we are more hard-working (in the opinion of 27% of respondents), more freedom-loving (22%), thriftier (21%), franker (19%), more sincere (19%), and more democratic (19%). Ukrainians realise that we are not one nation and understand perfectly well what our key differences are.

Such a difference in values indicates that Ukraine and Russia belong to different civilisational dimensions. In fact, among the new values, 45% of Ukrainians define freedom of speech, 31% – the ability to criticise the government, and 24% – the ability to protest.

Natalia Tolub