Moscow, 14 August: Almost two-thirds of Russians (59 per cent) support the Russian leadership's decision to intervene in the situation in South Ossetia to stop the military conflict and begin peaceful negotiations, according to the findings of a poll by the All-Russian Public Opinion Research Centre, distributed today. (Passage omitted: background to the conflict)

More than a quarter (27 per cent) of those surveyed emphasize that Russia should have intervened immediately in the conflict on the side of South Ossetia specifically. Men gave this answer more often than women (34 per cent and 21 per cent). Women more often than men called for Russia's intervention in the situation to stop the military conflict and begin peaceful negotiations, not specifying whose side the Russian forces should have taken (63 per cent and 53.8 per cent respectively).

More than half of Russians (54 per cent) blame the Georgian leadership in the conflict. Twenty-two per cent of respondents blame the US government and 12 per cent think that all are guilty: Russian, Georgian and South Ossetian authorities. Only 1 per cent of those surveyed indicate the guilt of Moscow or Tskhinvali alone.

At the same time, the higher the level of the respondents' education, the more often they note the involvement of the USA in the emergence of the conflict; 15 per cent of those surveyed with a basic education spoke of the USA's guilt and 25 per cent of those with a higher education qualification.

More than 1,500 people took part in the all-Russian survey by the All-Russian Public Opinion Research Centre, held from 10-13 August, in 140 communities in 42 Russian regions.

Statistical error does not exceed 3.4 per cent.