To what extent is palatalization in the modern Finnic languages due to the influence of Russian?

All but one of the Uralic languages have palatalization, making it a distinctive feature of the family. However, in the development from Proto- Uralic to Proto-Finnic, the language underwent a number of sound changes at a rate much faster than any other stage in the history of the Uralic languages; out of these, depalatalization was one of the first changes to occur. Today, most modern Finnic languages have regained palatalization. This presentation will look at the extent to which it is likely that this renewed palatalization is due to the influence of Russian, a language that has palatalization and that is or has historically been in contact with all Finnic languages. It will do so by first examining palatalization in Russian, then comparing it to the palatalization found in modern Finnic languages, chiefly Estonian and Finnish, as well as taking a look at possible language- external reasons for Russian influence on Finnic languages.