(NewsNation) — It’s a simple concept: invite Russian-speaking people from around the world to cold-call people in Russia.
Paulius Senuta, who is from Lithuania, says Russians have a hard time accessing objective information. So he decided to start calling them directly and share what’s really going on in Ukraine.
Today, he’s part of a massive effort involving an estimated 30,000-40,000 volunteers around the world.
Senuta says the calls are very difficult, and about 70 percent of the Russians his volunteers speak with support Putin. But the other 30% are against the war, and they listen.
“What happens is, you call into an environment where people have spent 20 years listening to a totally different story. It’s not just … propaganda, it has become a sort of their own identity,” Paulias told “NewsNation Prime” on Tuesday.
Lately, Paulias has started to see a shift. At first, Russians would hang up or get angry and yell, he said. Now, the conversations are getting longer.
“When you start speaking about people being killed, and and women raped and and you know, all other horrible things are happening there, you can connect with these people,” Paulias said.
Most of the volunteers are Russians living abroad, like Maria, who asked for her identity to be kept secret.
“It is more or less like cold calls. That means that most people don’t answer. Some people don’t want to speak. And this is quite a big part of calls. And interestingly, some people answer and speak,” she said.
“I ask questions like, for example, ‘I understand you, I hear your opinion. But could you please tell me where you get the information from?’ So then they start explaining that they listen only to Russian news. Then I ask, ‘Do you have access to some other sources?’ So like this, I am trying to move them toward the idea that they are probably isolated. And they really are.”
The big question: will it make a difference?
“I think it is just little by little. In Russia, we say that water can break the stone, you know, drop by drop,” Maria said.
As a Russian, Maria herself is shocked at what’s happening in Ukraine. But she reminds the world not to judge the entire Russian people.
“Not all Russians support what is happening. The problem is, we are really silenced. We are all under very strict censorship. Sincerely, I don’t know, I’m probably not supposed to be speaking to you now,” she said. “But I think it’s important to speak and to show we are trying to do something.”