Russian Speakers in Finland 2024

Cultura Foundation is an expert organisation that promotes integration and participation of the Russian speakers in Finland. As part of its activities the Foundation conducts various surveys related to the Russian‑speaking population, integration, participation, and integration services.^[1]

In 2022, The Cultura Foundation conducted an opinion survey among Russian‑speaking population in Finland.^[2] It was the first of its kind in Finland and aimed to examine the attitudes and thoughts of Russian speakers in Finland regarding Finnish society and their participation in it, as well as in relation to current social issues. International studies and previous surveys conducted in Finland had provided indications about the attitudes, values, thoughts, and challenges of the Russian‑speaking population in Finland, but a comprehensive and representative study had not been conducted before. The full-scale invasion of Ukraine launched by Russia in February 2022 created a significant societal demand for reliable information about the views and attitudes of the Russian-speaking population living in Finland. The study Russian Speakers in Finland 2022, conducted by the Cultura Foundation, received significant media attention when it was published in the autumn of 2022^[3], and since then, the research data has also been used as academic material.^[4]

Analysing the opinions, attitudes, and integration of the Russian‑speaking population, as well as observing the changes occurring in these areas, requires the repetition of research. In 2024, the Cultura Foundation conducted a follow-up survey of the Russian Speakers in Finland 2024, and the outcomes are presented in this report. The follow-up survey was conducted in collaboration with Innolink Group Ltd. and The National Emergency Supply Agency.

The Russian Speakers in Finland 2024 survey highlights the current situation regarding the views and opinions of the Russian‑speaking residents in Finland and examines the changes and trends that have occurred over the past two years. The interpretation of the survey results has been carried out through the collaboration of experts from the research organizer Innolink and Cultura Foundation, and the advisory board^[5] appointed by the Cultura Foundation. Recommendations for actions for the state, municipalities, and the foundation itself, along with proposals for further research projects, will be added to the report later in collaboration with stakeholders.

The contents of the study were kept mostly identical to the 2022 study, as even minor modifications could weaken the comparability of the results. However, some questions or individual statements were left out, and some new questions and statements were added. In 2022, the contents of the survey were formed based on extensive discussions assessing informational needs, taking into account, among other things, perspectives from government administration. The survey Citizens’ Pulse^[6] , which regularly assesses and monitors the opinions of the entire population and includes current batteries of questions, was considered where applicable in the design of the survey for Russian speakers, to allow for the inclusion of a comparative basis with the opinions of the general population in the analysis of the results. Comparison in this report is made with the Citizens’ Pulse data collection from week 23 (June 2024) ^[7], which was conducted simultaneously with the data collection for the Russian speakers in Finland 2024 survey.

The Russian Speakers in Finland 2022 survey revealed that this population group had low trust in Finnish media. It was also observed that low trust in media was associated with, among other things, higher acceptance of Russian military actions and lower trust in other Finnish societal institutions. Due to these observations, new supplementary questions addressing trust in media and media usage habits were included in the 2024 follow‑up study. One of the questions (trust in different news media) was designed to align with the question format of a study conducted by Yle in 2023 on the same topic^[8], thereby enabling comparison with the opinions of the general population once again.

The National Emergency Supply Agency was a strategic partner in the 2024 follow‑up study by partly funding it. The goal of the National Emergency Supply Agency is to obtain information on the media usage habits, trust in media, and the assessment of activities of the Russian-speaking population, in addition to a broader understanding of integration and trust, particularly in potential social exceptional or crisis situations. The information needs of the National Emergency Supply Agency were addressed in the follow-up study through newly introduced questions presented separately.

The Russian Speakers in Finland 2024 survey is based on responses collected with 1,000 telephone interviews. The sample was drawn using random sampling and is representative in terms of its distribution across major regions and age and gender within these regions. The Russian Speakers in Finland 2024 survey has been conducted using the same methods and by the same institution as the original 2022 survey. Details on the technical implementation of the study are provided in the following subsection.