The number of Russians optimistic about Russian-Ukrainian relations has grown 10 percentage points over the past three years; however, the number of negative assessments of relations with Ukraine still prevail, a poll conducted amongst 1,600 respondents in 130 communities in 42 Russian regions on November 24-25 showed.

More that a half of Russians (55%) have a negative assessment of current Russian-Ukrainian relations: 29% say they are chilly, 23% view them as tense and 3% as hostile, results of the VTsIOM poll obtained by Interfax indicate.

A total of 22% of respondents say that Russian-Ukrainian relations are currently neutral and 20% believe that the country countries are good neighbors and friends.

The number of positive assessments of bilateral relations has grown 10 percentage points from 9% in 2009 and the number of negative assessments fell the same 10 percentage points from 65%.

Almost three quarters of Russians (72%) are aware of Ukraine's plan to sign an association accord with the European Union: 18% are well aware of it, while 54% say they have a superficial understanding of the plan and know no details.

As to possible impacts of the association agreement on Russian-Ukrainian relations, 42% of respondents believe that there will be no impact. Some 26% think that tensions between the two countries may rise and 2% are sure the signing will be positive for Russia and Ukraine.