Online war games aren't yet banned in Russia. Finland's Helsingen Sanomat uses Counter-Strike to get counter-facts into the country
Photo by Fredrick Tendong on Unsplash
It has struck us for a while that there are few attempts to make contact with ordinary Russians about the Ukraine/Russian war (see our archive, and particularly this post.)
The Counter-Strike first-person shooter games are some of the world’s most popular, particularly in Russia. Now, some Russian gamers who access a downloadable map released today, called de_voyna, will be confronted with the reality of what their country’s army, at the behest of President Vladimir Putin, is doing in Ukraine.
An initiative of Finnish newspaper Helsingin Sanomat, the map contains verified information about war atrocities and the real reasons for the invasion of Ukraine. The newspaper’s journalists have collected pictures and voice recordings of the reality on the ground, and the harm being done by Russian troops, which players will be able to interact with.
Entry to the de_voyna Counter-strike room
Russian propaganda suggests—without evidence—that the invasion of Ukraine was launched with the goal of stopping the spread of Nazi ideology within the country; the goal here, then, is to offer an unsanitized version of the war, which has been going on since February 2022.
Helsingin Sanomat launched its initiative to mark World Press Freedom Day, and aims to reach the 4 million Russians who play Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. More Russians play the video game than citizens of any other country, according to data from Leetify, a third-party video game stats tracker.
“We figured out online games didn’t yet get banned or blocked in Russia,” says Antero Mukka, editor-in-chief of Helsingin Sanomat.