arbiter
JournalsPricingAccount

Evolving Attitudes to Ukrainian and Russian Minorities in Czechia During the Russian Invasion of Ukraine: Democrats Stay the Course

Martina Klicperova‐Baker et al.

International Journal of Psychology2026https://doi.org/10.1002/ijop.70155article
AJG 1
Weight
0.37

What the paper says

This panel study examines changes in attitudes towards Ukrainian and Russian minorities in the Czech Republic and their links to disinformation beliefs and democratic commitment. The data were obtained from 490 respondents in a Czech quota sample (age 18-69; M = 46.09, SD = 13.40; 45.7% women). Between 2022 and 2025, mean favorability towards both groups declined: evaluations of Ukrainians shifted from slightly positive to slightly negative, while evaluations of Russians dropped from slightly to markedly negative. A repeated measures ANOVA showed that these changes were moderated by respondents' belief in disinformation and democratic orientation. Respondents resilient to disinformation and committed to democracy ('Rational Pro-Ukrainians') maintained positive attitudes towards Ukrainians and showed only a medium further decline in already negative attitudes towards Russians. In contrast, respondents vulnerable to disinformation and less democratically oriented ('Generally Disinformed' and 'Pro-Russians') displayed a sharp decline in attitudes towards Ukrainians-to strongly negative, polarising levels-while their views of Russians deteriorated only slightly. The results suggest that pro-democratic individuals remained guided by empathy, humanism and in-group solidarity (Social Identity Theory), whereas disinformed non-democrats adopted out-group, threat-based perceptions (Realistic Threat Theory). Overall, rationality and democratic commitment appear to buffer against disinformation and polarisation, sustaining solidarity with democratic allies.

1 citation

Open paper page →

Cite this paper

https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1002/ijop.70155

Or copy a formatted citation

@article{martina2026,
  title        = {{Evolving Attitudes to Ukrainian and Russian Minorities in Czechia During the Russian Invasion of Ukraine: Democrats Stay the Course}},
  author       = {Martina Klicperova‐Baker et al.},
  journal      = {International Journal of Psychology},
  year         = {2026},
  doi          = {https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1002/ijop.70155},
}

Paste directly into BibTeX, Zotero, or your reference manager.

Flag this paper

Evolving Attitudes to Ukrainian and Russian Minorities in Czechia During the Russian Invasion of Ukraine: Democrats Stay the Course

Flags are reviewed by the Arbiter methodology team within 5 business days.

Evidence weight

0.37

Balanced mode · F 0.40 / M 0.15 / V 0.05 / R 0.40

F · citation impact0.16 × 0.4 = 0.06
M · momentum0.53 × 0.15 = 0.08
V · venue signal0.50 × 0.05 = 0.03
R · text relevance †0.50 × 0.4 = 0.20

† Text relevance is estimated at 0.50 on the detail page — for your query’s actual relevance score, open this paper from a search result.