Counter-Strike game features reports on the war in Ukraine
Finland’s largest daily newspaper, Helsingin Sanomat, has created a room in the online game Counter-Strike with information about Russia’s strikes on civilian targets in Ukraine and the massacres in Bucha, Kyiv region, during the Russian occupation. The special project aims to bypass censorship in Russia and bring information about the war to Russians through one of the country’s most popular games, the authors said on Wednesday, May 3.
“May 3 is World Press Freedom Day. In Russia, it does not exist. Helsingin Sanomat is blocked on the territory of the Russian Federation. However, we have come up with a very original way to tell the truth about the war to Russian youth. Unlike many media outlets, computer games are not yet banned in Russia,” they write.
Спецпроект | HS рассказывает россиянам правду о войне в компьютерной игре Counter-Strike https://t.co/mencVvFXIG
— Helsingin Sanomat (@hsfi) May 3, 2023
The room became available on May 2. It is stylized as a typical neighborhood in a post-Soviet city. In one of the basements, under the eternal flame, the walls feature reports in Russian made by the publication’s war correspondents in Ukraine.
Counter-Strike is one of the most popular games in the world. According to various estimates, three to four million people play it in Russia, mostly young people. Since the release of the Helsingin Sanomat room, it has been opened more than two thousand times. Information about it continues to spread.
