Two out of three Russians (66%) regret the fall of the Soviet Union, the highest level in the last decade, according to a new poll from independent pollster the Levada Center, Vedomosti reported on December 19.

Previously in 2017 a still hefty 58% of Russians regretted the fall of the USSR, and in the preceding decade the number did not rise above 61%. The highest level ever recorded was in 2000 when three quarters of Russians (75%) said the collapse of the Soviet Union was a bad thing.

Some 60% of respondents in the latest poll believe that the collapse could have been avoided, which is also at a 13-year high. The majority of those who are nostalgic for the USSR are people over 55 years old, although in the past two years these sentiments have grown among young people aged 18-24 as well.

The main reasons Russians give for their regret is the collapse of the single economic system (52%), the loss of a sense of belonging to a great power (36%) and the growth of mutual distrust and bitterness (31%).

Levada Center’s Karina Pipia says the recent pension reform has become a trigger for the growth of such sentiments: “People always explain their nostalgia for the USSR mainly with irrational ideas about the strong economy and prosperity of those times, forgetting about the deficit and the sanctions, especially against the background of growing concerns about current welfare issues.”