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Amharic - አማርኛ | Arabic - عربي
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Chinese (Traditional) - 中文（繁體) | French - Français
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PEOPLE GROUP PROFILE

The Russians of Italy

The Russians of Italy, numbering approximately 39,500 people, are Engaged yet Unreached. They are described as a diaspora community of Russians in Italy They are an Diaspora people, with Russian as their ethnic/kinship group and are in the Slav, Eastern people cluster of the Eurasian Peoples. Their primary religion is Orthodox Christianity. They primarily speak Russian.

Photo by Google. (2026). Image generated by Gemini 3.1 Flash: Russian

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Eurasian Peoples
Country: Italy
People Cluster: Slav, Eastern
Primary Language(s): Russian (rus)
Primary Religion(s): Orthodox Christianity
Population: 39,500
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): Engaged yet Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Active CP Activity
People Group ID: PG000350
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Pray for the Russians of Italy

Join others around the world in praying for the lost to be saved, the gospel to advance, the global Church to grow, and for laborers to be sent out and sustained in the harvest.

Pray Now!
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Dig Deeper (Religion):

Primary Religion: Orthodox Christianity
Religious Affiliation: Christianity

85%
%
Orthodox Christianity Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Russian
Language Family: Indo-European

100%
%
Russian Speakers

Media Resources in Russian:

Films:

Provided by the Jesus Film Project

View all resources

Bible Resources in Russian:

Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

Or check out the Russian bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

View all resources

Explore Lostness and Next Steps

Unengaged and Unreached

Strategic Priority Index (SPI): Unengaged and Unreached (SPI: 1), which means there are less than 2% evangelical Christian populations among which there are no known efforts focused on establishing self-sustaining churches consistent with evangelical faith and practice.
Lostness Priority Index (LPI): Expanding Unreached People Group, (LPI: 2), 0.5% to 2% Evangelical.
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Active CP Activity (GSEC: 1), this people group is less than 2% evangelical, some evangelical resources are available, but there has been no active church planting among them within the past two years

Next steps for the Russians:
Begin signifcant prayer and fasting for this group
Send cross-cultural teams to discover and research this people group
Begin gospel seed sowing and church planting among this group

SPI: Unreached yet Engaged

The Russians are Engaged yet Unreached, which means there are less than 2% evangelical Christian populations but there are sustained efforts at establishing self-sustaining churches consistent with evangelical faith and practice.

Next steps for the Russians:
Continue prayer and fasting for this group
Continue gospel seed sowing and church planting among this group
Begin training up local leaders to lead and develop strategies to reach their own people

SPI: No longer Unreached

The Russians are No Longer Unreached, which means there are more than 2% evangelical Christian populations and there are churches consistent with evangelical faith and practice. There is still more to be done among them.

Next steps for the Russians:
Empower local believers to begin praying for their own people
Continue gospel seed sowing and church planting
Encourage local leaders to being leading church planting strategy and looking for Unreached and Unengaged groups nearby

Pray specifically for the Russians of Italy

For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them.
readRomans 1:19

Pray that God will use testimony of creation to cause those who do not yet know the gospel to long for truth and a relationship with the Author of life.

“Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread."
readMatthew 6:10-11

As people go about their daily lives, pray they will have the opportunity to encounter Jesus-followers, receive the gospel, and respond with joy. Pray that, as God provides for their daily needs, He will also bring many into His beautiful kingdom.

Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful.
readHebrews 10:23

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will cling tightly to the hope they have in God to faithfully keep His promises.

After this the Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them on ahead of him, two by two, into every town and place where he himself was about to go.
readLuke 10:1

Ask God to raise up, send out, and sustain Christians who can go together to share the good news of Jesus with those who need it.

Russian Across Countries (ROP3 - 108452) reported in the following countries:

To download a comprehensive people group list in spreadsheet form, visit our Research Data page.

Peoplegroups.org relies on updates from the field and other organizations for much of our data, so if you have any updates, please contact us. We use various international naming standards. For a list of these standards and fields, visit our Definitions page.

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