Opinion poll reveals paradox of Georgia's aspiration for NATO and nostalgia for USSR

Most residents of Georgia support the course towards joining the European Union and the NATO, while 41% of them are negatively assessing the collapse of the USSR, sociologists assert. The Soviet period attracts people by a low level of officials' corruption and better operation of courts, while they associate joining the NATO with ensuring the country's security, political analysts believe.

According to the polling conducted by the Caucasian Research Resources Centre (CRRC, Georgia), the majority of Georgian residents – 78% – are still supporting the country's intention to join the European Union, while the accession to the NATO is supported by 71%.

The accession to the NATO is associated by Georgian residents with the return of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, and the ensuring the country's security, Gela Vasadze, a political analyst, has explained.

According to the poll, 49% of Georgian residents positively assess the collapse of the USSR, while 41% has a negative attitude to the fact. Consequently, at least 10% of respondents disapprove the collapse, but support the NATO, experts have noted.

Mr Vasadze has explained this phenomenon by demography. "Older people have lived most of their lives in the USSR, but they understand that today there is no USSR, and, therefore, there is no confrontation of the Soviet Union and NATO," he asserts.

As noted by David Beritashvili, a political analyst, opinions about the collapse of the USSR have divided almost equally, which indicates the influence of the views of the older generation on the youth. Thus, young people can be informed about the then lower levels of corruption among officials, he has suggested.