The Ukrainian crisis has revealed a gap in the views of East and West Germans that has hardly ever been observed on any other issues, Der Tagesspiegel newspaper has said, citing data from the Forsa research company.
As the newspaper notes, polls over the past few months show that residents of eastern and western Germany “come to very different assessments” of the crisis in Ukraine. Thus, according to Forsa, in the east of the country significantly more respondents (34%) believe that the German government is doing too much to support Ukraine. In the west of Germany about every fifth resident (18%) holds this opinion.
At the same time, the biggest differences between the east and the west are evident in the issue of arms supplies, Der Tagesspiegel points out. In all polls since the beginning of May 54 per cent to 61 per cent of West Germans support the delivery of heavy weapons to Kiev by Germany, while an average of 32 per cent of citizens from the East support such steps.
Thus, the difference between those who consider Berlin’s support for Ukraine excessive in the east and west of the country is already 16 percentage points on average, and the difference in views on the supply of weapons to Kiev is even 26% on average, the publication states.
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