Is There Any Point in Arguing with People Who Support the War in Ukraine?

Part of Russia’s population justifies the invasion of Ukraine by Russian troops as “fighting Nazis” and “liberating Donbas.”

Photographs of destroyed cities and murdered civilians do not diminish these people’s militant fervor.

Defenders of Putin’s aggressive policy are not even troubled by the fact that the war brings grief not only to Ukrainian families, but also to Russian ones.

The degree of hatred toward Ukrainians is sustained by the Russian authorities, who tirelessly repeat mantras about “fascists-Banderites.”

Is there any chance to reason with Russians and Belarusians who are subjected to a massive propaganda assault?

Is it worth trying to persuade them?
“I think it is worth it.

Not even so much persuading them as trying to talk and argue,” says Andrei Kazakevich, political scientist and director of the Political Sphere Institute, to Euroradio. “But one should avoid confrontational language and accusations.

There is no need to think that they are all equally convinced by propaganda.

Some may have doubts.

There are people who cannot be persuaded today, when there is the euphoria of war.

But that does not mean they cannot be persuaded in six months.

Then, perhaps, the effect of sanctions will be felt, or the person will receive the same information from two or three more sources.

Arguments of this kind help much better to understand the other side’s position and its arguments.

This is important for further informational work with such people.

Ultimately, if we do not communicate with them, we may form an impression of them as hopeless ‘vatniks’ ready to kill Ukrainians. In the same way that their propaganda creates the image of deranged ‘Banderite neo-Nazis.’
“Eight years of bombing Donbas” and other stories
Perhaps there are arguments, trump cards, that should be put forward immediately in a conversation with a person intoxicated by propaganda?
“Probably the main argument is: ‘Russia invaded another country.’

If they wanted security for Donbas, then perhaps they could have bombed the units located near it.

But in the end Russian troops are operating on the territory of Ukraine, and this is an act of aggression,” says Andrei Kazakevich. “Residential neighborhoods are being shelled en masse, civilians are dying.

If you say that people in Donbas have been dying for eight years, then your actions should presumably have been aimed at stopping the killings, not at killing thousands of people in a few weeks.

It is necessary to show what destruction is now taking place in Ukraine and how serious all of this is.

It is important to understand that propaganda is not always rational.

Modern Russian and Belarusian propaganda is built on frequent repetition of a certain thesis.

If it is repeated constantly, then for some people it becomes part of their reality.
“It is important to say that they [the aggressors. — Euroradio] have no goal,” Andrei Kazakevich continues listing anti-war arguments. “They want demilitarization/denazification, but what is that?

What are you going to do with Ukraine?

Divide it into parts, install a puppet government, hold democratic elections?

And what if the same political forces win those elections?

This entire operation has no goal.

You said that you were not attacking anyone.

But in the end you committed a treacherous attack.

Without announcing that an operation was beginning, without issuing preliminary ultimatums.

Read in full (https://euroradio.fm/ru/est-li-smysl-sporit-s-lyudmi-kotorye-podderzhivayut-voynu-v-ukraine)