Most support unified Ukraine, poll shows

KIEV, Ukraine – A strong majority of Ukrainians want their country to remain a single, unified state and this is true even in the largely Russian-speaking east where a pro-Russia insurgency has been fighting for autonomy, a poll released Thursday shows.

The survey results were released just hours before the pro-Russia forces in eastern Ukraine said they would go ahead with a referendum on autonomy planned for Sunday, ignoring Russian President Vladimir Putin’s call to delay the vote.

The poll by the Pew Research Center in Washington found that 77 percent of people nationwide want Ukraine to maintain its current borders, and even in the east the figure is 70 percent. Only among Russian speakers does the percentage drop significantly, but it is still over half at 58 percent.

The central government in Kiev has the confidence of only about 41 percent of Ukrainians, with a sharp divide between the west of the country, where support is 60 percent, and the east, where it is 24 percent, according to the poll.

Egypt defense chief issues media warning

CAIRO – Egypt’s top presidential candidate, the former military chief, warned newspaper editors not to press issues of freedoms of speech and other rights or campaign for democratic reforms, saying demands and protests jeopardize national security and that full democracy is an “idealistic” goal that could take 25 years to reach.

Field Marshal Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi also said he would “walk away” if people rose up against him and demanded that he step down, a promise also once made by Islamist President Mohammed Morsi, who in the end refused to resign in the face of massive protests against him, prompting el-Sissi to remove him from power last summer.

Associated Press