Vilnius starts campaign to call 40 million Russians to stave off propaganda

If you speak Russian, you, too, can pick up the phone and do your part to end this war

Today, 8 March, a cutting-edge information campaign, called #CallRussia, launched today from the Lithuanian capital Vilnius. The aim is to mobilize the Russian diaspora living abroad and any Russian speakers to volunteer some of their time and call people living in Russia on their phones and let them know about the brutalities of the war.

This can serve to counteract the information and media blackout that has been placed over that nation by their government. Volunteers have the chance to provide Russians with facts about the current invasion that contrast the disinformation emanating from the Kremlin and offer a point of view that is not readily available in Russia.

Only the truth can stop the war

The campaign stems from the understanding that now the end of the senseless invasion is only in the hands of the Russian people, as long as there is a critical mass there that can feel and express their dissatisfaction with the actions of their government.

A global network of professionals in technology, advertising and communications compiled the #CallRussia project’s database of 40 million Russian phone numbers and coded a technology platform that will generate phone numbers. The platform also provides non-confrontational conversation guidelines to Russian-speaking volunteers callers.

#CallRussia says it now needs Russian speakers around the world to join the effort to counter Putin’s propaganda and break his accelerating information blockade, one phone call at a time.

“While Vladimir Putin rains horror on Ukraine and blacks out information sources that could reveal his lies, #CallRussia will personally connect Russians abroad with Russians inside Russia for the most important conversations of their lifetimes,” said one of #CallRussia’s organizers Paulius Senūta, a creative from Vilnius.

“One conversation cannot overcome Putin’s evil propaganda, but 40 million might. Russians empowered with truth and compassion are the only ones who can stand up against Putin’s lies and end this war.”

The campaign’s website will assign individual numbers to each volunteer, provide peaceful and non-confrontational guidelines for conversation designed to combat Russian disinformation.

“#CallRussia will be the biggest and most important decentralized phone bank in history, because we believe only Russians can stop Vladimir Putin now. Only the truth can stop the killing,” added Senūta.