Measuring public opinion where it is hardest to measure
ExtremeScan is an independent research group studying how societies on both sides of the war in Ukraine perceive its meaning, its costs, and the prospects for peace.
Founded in 2022, ExtremeScan was built to answer a difficult question: what do people in Russia and Ukraine actually think during a war that makes honest answers risky? We treat that difficulty as a research problem in its own right — studying reachability, respondent cooperation, and the social pressures that shape what people are willing to say.
Our work combines telephone and online surveys with qualitative focus groups, fielded in both countries and often in collaboration with academic partners. Every release rests on a documented methodology and published question wording, so readers can see exactly what was asked.
Telephone and online panels in Russia and Ukraine, designed to reach respondents that wartime conditions tend to silence.
Qualitative depth on motivation, emotion and the social environment behind the numbers — why opinions hold or shift.
Anonymised datasets and questionnaires published on GitHub, so journalists and researchers can verify and reuse our findings.
Sociologist, and the public face and spokesperson for ExtremeScan. She leads the programme on attitudes to the war and the prospects for peace, and speaks for the project in the media.
Several of our analysts and field researchers work from inside Russia and Belarus, where naming them would put them at risk. They publish under pseudonyms — their safety comes before attribution.
Expertise, analysis and policy network covering Russian politics, economy and society.
re-russia.net →Independent research collective studying war, protest and political mobilisation in society.
publicsociologylab.com →A longitudinal study tracking Russian public opinion and attitudes toward the war.
chronicles.report →Our findings are verifiable
We publish anonymised datasets and questionnaires on GitHub so that journalists and researchers can check our work and reuse it. Methodology — including reachability and respondent cooperation — is documented in our post-releases.
On the “foreign agent” label
The Russian authorities have designated ExtremeScan and its researchers as a “foreign agent.” We reject the label — it is a political instrument used to discredit independent research and to deter people from reading or sharing it.
We display the mandated notice for two reasons: to comply with the law, and to protect our readers and everyone who reposts our work. On shared materials the notice appears above the text, so it travels with the content. It does not change what we publish, or how.
Work with us, or follow along
For research collaboration, data requests or media enquiries, get in touch. Or subscribe for new analysis once or twice a month.