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Majority of Russians support U.S. chicken ban
MOSCOW, Mar 21, 2002 (AP WorldStream via COMTEX) -- A vast majority of Russians support their government's current ban on poultry imports from the United States, according to a recent nationwide survey.
The Public Opinion Foundation poll found that 96 percent of Russians are aware of the government's ban and 79 percent approve of it, based on a poll of 1,500 people across the country. The poll claimed a margin of error of 3.6 percentage points.
But Russians appear split on the reason for the ban: 35 percent said it was to help the domestic chicken industry, 34 percent said it was to keep inferior U.S. chicken off the Russian market, and 12 percent said it was retaliation for new U.S. steel tariffs. One percent said the ban was revenge for Russia's treatment at the Salt Lake City Winter Olympics.
Russia imposed the chicken ban earlier this month, citing concerns about sanitary conditions at U.S. plants and the use of antibiotics in American chickens.
U.S. officials say the poultry is safe, and the two sides have been holding high-level talks to try to break the impasse.
U.S. chicken - known as "Bush legs" in Russia because the first Bush Administration sent them as humanitarian aid - has become the top American export to Russia, involving producers in 38 states.
But Russia's poultry ban - and new U.S. tariffs on steel, one of Russia's major exports - have marred relations ahead of U.S. President George W. Bush's visit to Russia in May.
Despite the poll results showing most Russians agree with the chicken ban, there are a few holdouts.
In St. Petersburg, about 10 members of the pro-communist Labour Russia party demonstrated outside the American consulate Thursday, demanding an immediate resumption of U.S. chicken imports.
They held signs that read "Bush legs fed all the poor of Russia," and "Bush legs, we want to eat you forever."
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