MOSCOW. Aug 4 (Interfax) - Price rise and growing poverty were cited as Russia's two main problems by respectively 64% and 52% of respondents, recently polled by Levada Center.

In the previous two years, 70% and 51% of those surveyed saw these problems as the most serious ones in Russian society, Levada Center told Interfax.

Inaccessibility of medical services and a widening gap between the rich and the poor (32%,) as well as growing unemployment (30%) were named among other most alarming social problems in Russia.

Corruption, a rising crime rate, poor performance of the country's industries and agriculture, loose moral standards and a cultural crisis were each cited by 28% of those polled.

One fourth of respondents said they were concerned about growing drug abuse, and a slightly smaller group of those surveyed (22%) quoted deteriorating environmental problems. One tenth of respondents complained about brutal methods practiced by police, about the government's weak performance and the bureaucrats' tyranny (9% each,) about the courts' inability to administer justice and a fast growing incidence of AIDS (8% each,) and ethnic conflicts (7%.)

Only 1% of respondents said they were concerned about human rights abuses.

The total percentage exceeds 100% because respondents were free to provide several answers.