KYIV. May 19 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Some 45% of Ukrainians believe that Ukrainian businessman and MP Viktor Medvedchuk should incur criminal punishment and serve the maximum term stipulated by Ukrainian legislation for the crimes of which he is accused, without the possibility of appealing the sentence.

This is evidenced by the data of the sociological survey "Assessment of the latest news and events. The attitude of the Ukrainian society to the development of the situation around the Viktor Medvedchuk case," presented at Interfax-Ukraine by the Ukrainian Institute for the Future (UIF) analytical center.

According to the survey, 23% of respondents believe that Medvedchuk should receive the maximum criminal punishment and become a valuable exchange fund for Ukrainian patriots, 20% are sure that he should be deprived of his Ukrainian citizenship and deported to Russia, 7% believe that he should be acquitted and restored in all his rights and only 5% are sure that he should receive a suspended sentence if the Russian leadership makes concessions.

At the same time, 24% of respondents were undecided about their position regarding Medvedchuk on this issue.

At the same time, 40% of respondents believe that Medvedchuk's trial will turn into a circus, 15% are sure that the trial will be long, and its result will be an acquittal, 14% believe that as a result of a long trial, Medvedchuk will receive a suspended sentence and according to 8% of respondents, the trial will be long, but with a real sentence as a result. Only 6% believe that the trial will be quick – with a real or suspended sentence, or with an acquittal. Some 17% of respondents were undecided.

In addition, 67% of respondents believe that the measure of restraint in the form of house arrest for Medvedchuk does not correspond to the severity of the suspicion of high treason, 29% believe that it is more likely not to correspond, 11% believe that it does, 17% of respondents are sure that Medvedchuk should have been released from the courtroom and 17% were undecided.

Also, 44% believe that a criminal case should be initiated against Medvedchuk's wife Oksana Marchenko, 29% disagree with this and 24% could not decide.

At the same time, 33% of surveyed Ukrainians consider Medvedchuk a politician who hates everything Ukrainian and dreams of Ukraine becoming part of Russia, 25% consider him a businessman for whom politics is money, 16% see him as a traitor to Ukraine's interests and a professional Russian spy.

At the same time, 9% of the respondents admitted that they consider Medvedchuk a professional and pragmatic politician and lawyer, who has his own vision of the vector for the development of a successful Ukraine, 2% called him a patriot of Ukraine, and 15% could not decide on an unambiguous position on this issue.

The sociological survey was conducted from May 15 to May 17 using the online survey method with a structured questionnaire. The sample was 1,200 respondents throughout Ukraine, with the exception of the temporarily occupied territories of Donetsk and Luhansk regions and Crimea. The statistical error with a probability of 0.95% does not exceed 3.5%.