Survey: One third of Finland's Russian speakers think Russia violated Ukrainian sovereignty

Just over a third of Russian speakers in Finland mentioned they consider Russia violated Ukraine’s sovereignty once they invaded the nation. That’s in line with a recent Yle survey on Russian speakers’ attitudes carried out by Taloustutkimus.

The polling agency discovered that 33 p.c of Russian speakers residing in Finland consider that Russia’s assault on Ukraine violates that nation’s sovereignty.

However, 15 p.c of respondents mentioned they view Russia’s assault on Ukraine as a “military operation,” a time period utilized by the Kremlin because the first days of the warfare.

The survey queried 501 Russian speakers who completely reside in Finland, a rustic that’s dwelling to round 80,000 Russian speakers.

Reacting to the survey’s outcomes, a Russia professional on the University of Eastern Finland, Olga Davydova-Minguet, mentioned she believes that Russians residing in Finland and different western nations are confused and usually suspicious on the subject of voicing their opinions.

Davydova-Minguet famous this was proven by greater than half of the ballot’s respondents saying they didn’t know — or weren’t in a position to say — what the warfare in Ukraine was about.

“It’s easier to say you don’t know because the people answering the survey don’t know how responses will be interpreted and what that could lead to. ‘Will they want my name and will it be linked to something?’ This kind of suspicion is in the air,” Davydova-Minguet defined.

Underlying this suspicion, she mentioned, is Russians’ normal lack of belief in authorities.

“The war has been going on for three months but people are still confused,” she mentioned.

Jari Pajunen, who heads the Taloustutkimus polling agency, additionally mentioned respondents raised suspicions that Russia was really commissioning the survey, not Yle.

Only 13 p.c of respondents mentioned they thought of Russian media a dependable supply of data. However, many respondents didn’t need to present a transparent solutions about their emotions on this difficulty, with 69 p.c saying they didn’t have an opinion, or didn’t need to disclose their opinion on the matter.

Davydova-Minguet has studied how Russians residing in France have reacted to the warfare in Ukraine. She mentioned many on this group watch Russian-language information proper after broadcast bulletins in French.

State-controlled Russian information retailers try and enchantment to Russians’ patriotism, and the lethal battle in Ukraine is a really completely different story on Russian TV in comparison with stories from western retailers. This scenario has left some Russian folks confused.

“Russian families are horrified by the situation and blame the West which is prolonging the conflict by delivering weapons to Ukraine,” she defined.

Katja Liukkonen, who produces Yle’s Russian-language information service Novosti, mentioned the survey outcomes present that many Russians residing overseas are unsure and afraid.

“If you follow Russian news outlets, that’s not considered too acceptable in Finland. And if you say you consume western news, that statement can cause problems for your relatives in Russia,” she defined.

Liukkonen mentioned she was glad to be taught that ballot outcomes confirmed Yle Novosti rating essentially the most extremely amongst Russian-language information sources, each in phrases of reliability and because the most-read Russian information supply amongst respondents.

“Seventy-three percent of respondents reported consuming Novosti’s output at least occasionally,” Liukkonen added.

Results confirmed a gentle demand for Russian-language information in Finland.

“People watch our news and trust us the most. This means people want Western news in their own language,” she mentioned.

Taloustutkimus carried out the ballot in Russian by phone between 25 April and 23 May. The margin of error is 4 proportion factors in both path.