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A phone opinion poll conducted by the German TV channel N-TV has yielded a surprise finding that 89 percent of its viewers sympathize with Russian President Vladimir Putin’s policy on Ukraine, RIA Novosti reported. 

A poll on Russia’s handling of the Ukraine crisis by the Berlin-based N-TV went spectacularly wrong in the channel’s opinion, when the majority of its audience said “yes” to the question “Do you have understanding for Putin’s policy?”

The response was indeed so baffling that the poll was wiped off the N-TV home page the same day, but not before some people managed to make screenshots of it, which they posted online.

A screenshot posted on the Facebook page of Christoph Hoerstel from Potsdam shows that 89 percent answered with a resounding “yes,” with the remaining 11 percent responding with a “no.” Respondents could choose only those two options.

The subsequent deletion of the controversial survey raised an important question of news coverage in the German mainstream media, which has been remarkably vocal in its disapproval of Russia’s stance on Ukraine.

In February, the Ukrainian parliament backed by far-right movements ousted President Viktor Yanukovych and scheduled an early presidential election for May 25.

Moscow has described the uprising in Kiev as an illegitimate fascist coup and a military seizure of power, which resulted in it taking steps to protect ethnic Russians in Ukraine, including the reunification with Crimea.