MOSCOW, 27 December 2023. Russian Public Opinion Research Center presents the findings of a survey describing the attitudes of Russians towards the personality and works of writer Boris Akunin.

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Grigory Chkhartishvili, widely known as Boris Akunin*, is an author of tens of historical detectives translated to many languages. Despite his vast literary heritage, more than half of respondents are not familiar with his works (57%). About a quarter of Russians have read his books (23%); a further 23% have a vague notion about his works thanks to multiple adaptations. While in concept every third Russian can tell about the adventures of Erast Fandorin, generally 34% of Russians either have read books by Akunin or have watched movies based on his books.

Those who are unfamiliar with the works by Akunin are young respondents aged 18-24 (81%), persons with incomplete secondary education (94%), inhabitants of rural area (71%) and active TV viewers (72%).

Most of those respondents who are familiar with Akunin’s works like them (58%); 19% report the opposite (“likely or definitely don’t like Akunin’s works); 23% did not give an informative answer. Due to a lack of statistically significant differences across groups it does not seem possible to provide a socio-demographic portrait of a typical Akunin’s fan.

Presentation and…

Boris Akunin is not only known for his historical detectives but also for his oppositionist views. He has repeatedly criticized the Russian authorities and supported the Kyev regime since the beginning of the special military operation by transferring money from books sold in Russia. Sixteen percent of respondents who are familiar with Akunin’s works are somewhat aware of the writer’s political position; remarkably, it’s a rare case where focused awareness dominates the society (34% are aware; 26% heard something but do not know any details). Those who are more informed are men (67% vs. 55% of women), respondents aged 60+ (72%), persons with higher education diplomas (66%), residents of one of the capitals or a million-plus city (67% and 69% respectively), as well as those who prefer television over the internet (76%).

Forty percent of respondents heard for the first time about Akunin’s political position during the December survey; this is also true for more than half of young Russians aged 25-34 (55% of those who know the works by Akunin).

…punishment?

The writer’s public announcements and anti-Russian rhetoric were not left unnoticed: Akunin was added to the register of terrorists and extremists and later recognized as a foreign agent; publishing houses suspended the printing and sales of his books. Seven out of ten Russians (69%) support, to a varying degree, the decision to suspend the printing and sales of Akunin’s books, including every second respondent who is fully confident (“definitely right decision” - 48%). Both those who have read Akunin’s books and watched adaptations (63%) and those who are not familiar with his works (71%) consider this punishment just. Every fifth does not think it is right to suspend the printing and sales of the writer’s books (19%); every eighth is undecided (12%).

* Added to the register of extremists and terrorists; recognized as a foreign agent in Russia.

VCIOM-Sputnik Russian nationwide telephone survey was conducted 23 December 2023. A total of 1,600 Russians aged 18+ were surveyed. Survey method: telephone interviews, stratified random sample based on a complete list of mobile phone numbers in use in Russia. The data were weighted for socio-demographic characteristics. The margin of error at a 95% confidence level does not exceed 2.5%. In addition to sampling error, minor changes to the wording of questions and different circumstances arising during the fieldwork can introduce bias into the survey.

 Key effectiveness indicators, survey of 23 December 2023:  cooperation rate (CR)* = 0.8317; minimum response rate (MRR)** = 0.0201; response rate (RR)*** = 0.1066.  Calculations are based on corporate standards: https://profi.wciom.ru/principy_standarty/korporativnyj-standart-po-izmereniyu-rezultativnosti-oprosov-sputnik-vciom/

* CR: the number of complete interviews divided by the sum of: а) complete interviews and b) non-interviews with eligible respondents.

** MRR: the number of complete interviews divided by the sum of: а) complete interviews, b) interrupted interviews after successful screening and c) all the respondents where it is unknown whether they meet the selected criteria or not.

 ** RR is calculated in the same way as MRR, with the only difference that the number of respondents with unknown eligibility decreases proportional to the percentage of eligible cases in the total number of respondents with identified eligibility or non-eligibility.