Following Russia’s restriction on social media platforms, the Russian people’s access to accurate war-related information has been severely restricted. However, Russian leader Vladimir Putin recently approved the decree that those who spread “fake” news about the war will be sentenced to 15 years in prison. The other day, we shared that a Belarusian journalist was arrested for making false news.
Following this decision, which considers independent journalism a crime, many broadcasting organizations announced that they were ending their broadcasting life in the country. Putin allows the Russian people to see only what they want to show about the war. In this case, the public, who wants to be aware of what is happening, continues to seek new methods to be aware of the agenda. Polish programmers also designed a website for Russians who want to follow the agenda.
By sending personal messages to Russians, accurate information can be transmitted
Designed by Polish programmers, the site helps people convey ‘correct information’ to the Russian people. Through these short messages sent from all over the world, the Russian people are helped to be informed about what is happening. After internet censorship and restriction of free media in Russia, the site offers a great opportunity for people to pass on information. “About 150 million Russians don’t know the truth about the causes or course of the war in Ukraine. It is fed by Kremlin propaganda lies. There is no free media in Russia and the internet is censored. Squad303 is a platform that lets you send direct text messages from your phone to randomly selected Russians,” the site’s description says. “Let them know the truth. Let them know the power of the free world!” In his words, Squad303 briefly summarized the purpose of the site.
According to the Wall Street Journal’s report, the system works because Russian programmers group Squad303 has about 20 million mobile phone numbers and nearly 140 million emails belonging to Russian individuals and companies. Thanks to this information that Squad303 has, you can send personal messages to the Russians on the ‘1920.in’ site. When you enter the site, you can see the information written in Russian.
So how does the site work? Go to
- 1920.in
- Wait while Cloudflare takes you through DDoS protection. (This is a necessary step to prevent Russian hackers from trying to condense the traffic of the website and make it inaccessible)
- Enter the number you see at the top of your screen in the messaging app
- Translate your text into Russian and send your text message with the correct information .
We should not forget that the purpose of the site is to inform the Russian people about the war and what is happening. Unfortunately, the ongoing sanctions bring racism with them, but we should not act by thinking that all Russian people approve of this war, just as not everyone can agree with it in every country and in every environment we enter. We hope that this site will not be used for malicious purposes in the future and it will really serve its purpose.
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