Kaarina Aitamurto received her doctoral degree from the University of Helsinki. Her dissertation analysed Russian contemporary Paganism and nationalism. In her post-doctoral studies she has also focused on populism and hate speech in Europe and Muslim minorities in ethnically Russian areas. She has a postdoctoral researcher position at the Aleksanteri Institute and is a member of the Finnish Centre of Excellence in Russian Studies—Choices of Russian Modernization, funded by the Academy of Finland. She is the editor of Modern Pagan and Native Faiths in Central and Eastern Europe and a member of the editorial board of the Journal of Religion and Violence.