The press release was prepared by Anton Hrushetskyi, executive director of KIIS

During February 17-23, 2024, the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology (KIIS) conducted its own all-Ukrainian public opinion survey "Omnibus". Bythemethodofcomputer-assistedtelephoneinterviews(CATI) based on a random sample of mobile phone numbers (with random generation of phone numbers and subsequent statistical weighting), 1,052 respondents living in all regions of Ukraine (except AR of Crimea) were interviewed. The survey was conducted with adult (aged 18 and older) citizens of Ukraine who, at the time of the survey, lived on the territory of Ukraine controlled by the Government of Ukraine. The sample did not include residents of territories temporarily not controlled by the authorities of Ukraine, and the survey was not conducted with citizens who went abroad after February 24, 2022.

Formally, under normal circumstances, the statistical error of such a sample (with a probability of 0.95 and taking into account the design effect of 1.1) did not exceed 3.4% for indicators close to 50%, 3.0% for indicators close to 25%, 2.1% - for indicators close to 10%, 1.5% - for indicators close to 5%.

Under conditions of war, in addition to the specified formal error, a certain systematic deviation is added. In particular, if in May 2022, among all the respondents we interviewed, 2.5-4% lived in the territories occupied after February 24 (and this corresponded to the percentage of those who live there, because the generation of telephone numbers was random), now due to the occupiers turning off the telephone connection, not a single respondent who currently lives in occupied settlements was included in the sample (along with this, out of a total of 1,052 respondents, 33 respondents lived in a settlement that is currently occupied until February 24, 2022). It is important to note that although the views of the respondents who lived in the occupation were somewhat different, the general trends were quite similar. That is, the impossibility of interviewing such respondents does not significantly affect the quality of the results. There are other factors that can affect the quality of results in "wartime" conditions, which were cited by KIIS earlier.

In general, we believe that the obtained results are still highly representative and allow for a fairly reliable analysis of the public moods of the population.

In the recent period, there have been a number of high-profile cases in Ukraine when law enforcement agencies investigated alleged violations of laws by certain companies and businessmen (for example, tax evasion or illegal acquisition of land, etc.). Each case is unique, and in fact, in one case, the arguments of one side may be more convincing, and in another case, the arguments of the other side may be more convincing. At the same time, the distribution of opinions and views actually lies on a continuum from "law enforcement agencies or authorities exert unreasonable pressure on business" to "business receives a fair punishment for violating laws in its activities". In our survey, we asked the question, how do Ukrainians in general perceive these investigations, what is their general impression? It is important to emphasize that we asked the opinion of ordinary citizens (obviously, if the survey was conducted only among the business community or among representatives of law enforcement agencies or government institutions, then the results would be different).

Hence, slightly more than half of Ukrainians - 56% - believe that these cases are evidence of attempts to fight against business violations of Ukrainian laws. 30% perceive these cases as pressure on business. The remaining 14% could not make up their mind.

Graph 1. Over the past few months, the mass media have regularly reported on investigations by law enforcement agencies into the activities of some large business companies and businessmen. For you personally, this is rather evidence that…

The graph below shows the data in regional terms. The situation in all regions is quite similar, and everywhere a little more than half consider the investigation of the activities of companies and businessmen as attempts to fight violations.

Graph2. Perception of the investigation of the activities of individual companies and businessmen in the regional dimension

A. Hrushetskyi, comments on the survey results:

Entrepreneurs and businessmen are an important component of society and play an influential role in its development. However, in Ukraine, since the 1990s, many people have developed a persistent negative perception of business due to its association with corruption and influence on politicians and government officials. Ukrainians can have a positive attitude towards "big business", but hate "oligarchs" (some may respect the same entrepreneurs as "big businessmen", while others may criticize them as "oligarchs"). At the same time, individual components of the law enforcement system also cause sharp criticism and distrust. In particular, in December 2023, only 9% of Ukrainians trusted prosecutors (distrusted - 64%) and only 12% trusted courts (distrusted - 61%).

Therefore, in the eyes of many ordinary citizens, the clash of guarded state interests and Ukrainian "Atlanteans" actually looks more like "toad viper". However, everyone loses from the "holy war" - the state, business, and ordinary citizens. Now it is necessary not to increase the degree and not to motivate your supporters for an uncompromising struggle, but to calmly and constructively solve problems and form new transparent rules of the game that are fair to all parties.

We would all be interested in each of the parties conducting reasoned open communication not only among themselves, but also with society. If individual companies violate the law or take advantage of its imperfections, it would be good if this was communicated in a clear, calm and convincing way (rather than in the dry, confusing language of references to articles of law). If the law enforcement agencies make a mistake in their assessment or have unreliable information, then the business should also explain this in a clear, calm and convincing way (and not resort to emotionally saturated, but meaningfully empty, reactions).

Annex 1. Formulation of questions from the questionnaire

Over the past few months, the mass media have regularly reported on investigations by law enforcement agencies into the activities of some large business companies and businessmen. For you personally, this is rather evidence that… RANDOMIZATION OF THE ORDER