--- title: Using Psychology to Tell Russians the Truth About Ukraine description: A Harvard professor explains an initiative to email individual Russians to tell them what's really happening in Ukraine canonical: https://time.com/6168314/psychology-persuade-russians-truth-ukraine/ author: Julia Minson article:opinion: true article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2022-04-20T10:00:24.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-14T09:34:40.880Z article:section: Ideas og:title: How I Am Using Psychology to Persuade Russians of the Truth About Ukraine og:description: A Harvard professor explains an initiative to email individual Russians to tell them what's really happening in Ukraine og:url: https://time.com/6168314/psychology-persuade-russians-truth-ukraine/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf47b8427eacdfab4/698a310986f68ee91c6f1221/persuading-russians-to-hear-the-truth-through-emails.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2400 og:image:height: 1350 og:image:alt: The Ukrainian flag flutters between buildings destroyed in bombardment, in the Ukrainian town of Borodianka, in the Kyiv region on April 17, 2022. og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: How I Am Using Psychology to Persuade Russians of the Truth About Ukraine twitter:description: A Harvard professor explains an initiative to email individual Russians to tell them what's really happening in Ukraine twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf47b8427eacdfab4/698a310986f68ee91c6f1221/persuading-russians-to-hear-the-truth-through-emails.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # How I Am Using Psychology to Persuade Russians of the Truth About Ukraine > Sponsored content. 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It explains how TIME's journalism is made, from the first pitch through the editorial decisions behind a finished story or cover. #### How can I read about how TIME chooses its covers? Inside TIME is the newsletter where TIME's Editor-in-Chief explains cover selection and the editorial reasoning behind major stories. It is free at time.com/newsletters. #### Who is the editor of TIME? Sam Jacobs is TIME's Editor-in-Chief. He writes Inside TIME, a twice-weekly newsletter about the newsroom's reporting and editorial decisions. #### Is Inside TIME free? Yes. Inside TIME is a free newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. A paid TIME subscription is separate and available at time.com/subscribe-agent. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-inside-2026q3/newsletters?i=35ed2f7a-e57e-4987-a6e1-1fc960abc196&cr=time-nl-inside-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Ukraine: A Glossary of Terms [Watch (HLS stream): Ukraine: A Glossary of Terms](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/OM8MLV7Y.m3u8) (5:41)  _Published 2022-03-15. When it comes to learning about the conflict in Ukraine, there are a lot of terms that get thrown around. Here are a few you should know._ by [Julia Minson](https://time.com/author/julia-minson/) ## Julia Minson Apr 20, 2022 10:00 AM UTC When it comes to learning about the conflict in Ukraine, there are a lot of terms that get thrown around. Here are a few you should know. by [Julia Minson](https://time.com/author/julia-minson/) ## Julia Minson Apr 20, 2022 10:00 AM UTC Many of us have been struggling to find a way to help Ukraine. A Norwegian tech entrepreneur named Fabian Falch found his answer. With a small group of volunteers, Fabian built a system to elude spam filters and dispatch millions of emails to Russia— urging the Russian people to disregard the government [propaganda](https://time.com/6156927/youtube-russia-ukraine-disinformation/) and providing links to accurate information about the war in Ukraine. Fabian figured out how to make a difference; by working with him, so have I. As an immigrant with Russian and Ukrainian roots, I liken Russia’s argument that it can invade [Ukraine](https://time.com/6154954/putin-ukraine-history-lesson/) because the two countries used to be one to an abusive husband violating a restraining order because “we are a family.” But as a behavioral scientist studying conflict communication, I worried that reaching Russian inboxes was not enough. I also wanted to be sure that the Russians opening those emails would be receptive to the message and not dismiss it out of hand. So, I contacted Fabian to learn more about his operation and share my concerns. We began working together to reshape the messages in ways that can persuade skeptical Russians. Fabian’s [email scheme](http://mail2ru.org/) is both clever and simple: a volunteer clicks on a link and an outgoing email from their own account gets populated with 100 Russian email addresses and a message in Russian and English. The emails get past spam filters because they come from real people and arrive in small batches. The messages also include instructions for downloading software that circumvents government blockers on news and social media websites. Fabian estimates that around 50 million messages have been sent by his army of 500,000 volunteers. The challenge is that people in Russia have experienced decades of brainwashing about the evils of the West and the plight of Russians in Eastern Ukraine. Like many Americans, many Russians don’t care about politics or international relations, and they don’t question the news they watch. They want to think well of their own country and will likely resent having their troops accused of [killing innocents](https://time.com/6166681/bucha-massacre-ukraine-dispatch/) by an anonymous email landing uninvited in their inbox. This is where behavioral scientists can help. Scholars in psychology, communications, marketing, conflict management and negotiations study how to influence someone who has strong incentives to maintain their beliefs. We can craft clearer, less threatening, more persuasive messages. People who are trying to break through the wall of Russian propaganda—from concerned activists to the U.S. government—would be wise to tap into this wealth of research-driven expertise. In my [lab at Harvard Kennedy School](http://www.juliaminson.com/lab.html), we study “[conversational receptiveness](https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0749597819303425)”—the use of specific words and phrases to convey one’s engagement with opposing perspectives. Conversational receptiveness uses specific linguistic cues identified by algorithms that analyze natural human language to ensure that your counterpart feels respected and understood. For example, receptive language features acknowledgement phrases such as “I understand that…” and “You are saying that…” to show that you really paid attention to your counterpart’s perspective. It also uses “hedges” (sometimes, possibly, often) to make the message come across as less dogmatic. In related research, we find that simply and directly stating that you are interested in your counterpart’s point of view improves how that person sees you and your argument. This technique worked even in a study where Israelis read messages from Palestinian counterparts—messages they received during the Gaza war in the spring of 2021. When faced with false and dangerous beliefs, our impulse is to make the strongest, most attention-grabbing argument possible. “The Russians are bombing maternity hospitals!” “Putin must be stopped!” “Save the people of Mariupol!” are flooding the internet. But such arguments are more likely to inflame resistance than foster dialogue. And even if I agree that Putin must be stopped, what exactly should I do about it? So, offering concrete action steps, such accessing independent news, is key to motivating action. Fabian was open to applying these research-based insights to revise the messages in the emails. With the support of other scholars and students, we are rewriting the messages being sent by [mail2ru.org](https://mail2ru.org/) and crafting batches of new ones. We focus on brevity, clarity, signaling receptiveness, and finding common ground. The recast emails are half as long as the original batch. The subject lines seek to start a dialogue. The emails make just a couple of clear points, focusing on the humanitarian and economic costs of the war, and avoid blaming the Russian people. These messages also explain in a few words how to access websites and browsers that evade government censorship and internet blocks and provide reliable information on what’s really happening in the war. In this way, we combined our very different skills to reach Russians with messages that we hope will leave them more open to hearing the truth about the war their country is waging. We hope others join us in paving this path toward peace. ## Transcript [00:00] President Zelensky once again calling on NATO for a no-fly zone... [00:03] totality of our economic sanctions... [00:06] that you hear about the humanitarian corridor... [00:08] When it comes to the conflict in Ukraine, there are a lot of [00:11] terms that are being thrown around. Here are a few that you [00:14] should know. [00:16] Oligarchs are Russian businessmen, who amass wealth [00:21] very quickly after the dissolution of the Soviet Union. [00:24] Most of them, through friendships and corruption, basically. They [00:28] control different parts of the Russian infrastructure. So the [00:34] Biden administration has developed a task force to go [00:37] after property, such as yachts, and summer homes and things of [00:43] this nature. And the hope is that this small group, [00:46] relatively small group of men can apply some pressure to [00:50] Vladimir Putin to make him stand down this war. [00:56] The North Atlantic Treaty Organization was started after World War Two. Its [01:00] whole purpose was to stand against the Soviet Union. [01:04] Nations like France, Britain, United States, they stood up this [01:08] alliance, which it has a defining principle that, you [01:13] know, attack against one is attack against all. One of the [01:16] things that that Putin brings up when he has his list of [01:20] complaints against the West, is the fact that, you know, Ukraine [01:24] was being considered as becoming a member of the the NATO [01:28] alliance. They're not, of course, and they haven't been [01:32] brought in, but just the threat of that was enough for Putin to, [01:37] you know, launch this assault into Ukraine. His big fear is [01:41] that, you know, the alliance would pre-position military [01:45] forces and capabilities along his border that would threaten [01:51] the existence of Russia. [01:54] Sanctions are measures like, hey, let's let's cut Russia off [02:01] from the global banking system. That's one set of sanctions. [02:05] Let's all agree not to buy Russian oil. It's a set of [02:09] agreements between countries on one side of a conflict to kind [02:14] of politically and economically ostracize a country [02:20] that is a bad actor. [02:24] Russia wants to decapitate the Government of Ukraine, they want [02:28] to overthrow that government and install their own. And the way [02:31] that they're applying that pressure is by going after major [02:34] population centers. They've already launched over 600 [02:38] missiles into major cities creating a humanitarian crisis. [02:42] And seeing this, Ukraine has tried to cut a deal with Russia [02:47] to be able to open up a number of corridors in which civilians [02:51] are allowed to leave combat zones. Russia has already been [02:55] seen to have violated this and to have targeted these areas. [03:02] When we think of a nuclear weapon, we think of obliterating [03:06] an entire city. Tactical nuclear weapons are designed to be more [03:09] contained to a limited geography, to a smaller area of space. [03:15] No army, no nation has ever used a tactical nuke in combat before. [03:20] You know, the United States has said its nuclear umbrella [03:24] extends to the NATO allies. Of course, Ukraine is not a NATO [03:28] ally. But just a use of a nuclear weapon would demand that [03:33] the United States would have to respond in some meaningful way. [03:39] The United States has had air superiority over every war since [03:43] World War Two. So the idea with a no-fly zone is that the United [03:47] States does not allow another military to operate over a [03:51] specific area. And if any aircraft breached that airspace, [03:55] the United States or its allies would shoot down the enemy [03:59] aircraft. This is off limits for the Biden administration because [04:02] it puts American pilots in direct combat with Russian [04:06] pilots, the risk of escalation and going into worldwide [04:09] conflict grows exponentially greater. The United States has [04:13] done no fly zones before, most recently in Libya, and also in [04:18] Iraq. But the Air Force has they faced there were largely run [04:23] down and much smaller numbers. [04:27] So SWIFT is a messaging system that allows banks to communicate [04:32] with each other about transactions that are being [04:35] made. And by cutting Russia off from SWIFT, it means that people [04:41] and organizations and banks inside Russia can no longer [04:45] communicate with the outside banking world and complete [04:49] transactions that are very important to to doing business [04:54] in the country and doing business internationally. [05:00] The Bayraktar drones are smaller drone systems that have their [05:04] Turkish-made. And they've been used to devastating effect on [05:11] Russian military. The Russian military has been stalled and [05:14] they've encountered stiff resistance in almost every [05:19] place that they've gone, you know, they're running out of [05:21] fuel and food and the logistics problems that they've had, have [05:26] basically made them sitting ducks they're stalled out. 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