Russians traveling by train faced with posters depicting war in Ukraine to combat Putin’s misinformation

• Russians traveling from the mainland to the enclave of Kaliningrad have to stop in Lithuania. 
• There, they are greeted by an exhibition showing the realities of the war in Ukraine. 
• “It’s the least that we can do,” a spokesperson for Lithuanian Railways said.

Russians taking the train from Moscow to the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad have to pass through Vilnius station in Lithuania. When their train pauses at the platform, they are greeted with 24 large posters depicting the war in Ukraine. 

The posters show pictures of corpses, injured civilians, grieving families, destroyed homes and infrastructure, and child refugees. 

All posters have the same message: “Today, Putin is killing civilians in Ukraine. Do you support this?”

“As far as we know, Russians are shielded from what is happening in Ukraine.”Maybe we can change the minds of a very small number of passengers,” Mantas Dubauskas, a spokesperson for the state-owned Lithuanian railways, who have erected the posters, told Reuters.

“It’s the least that we can do,” he added.

The Russian parliament recently passed a law criminalizing the spread of “fake” news regarding the invasion of Ukraine. 

Russia has repeatedly stated that the atrocities witnessed in Ukraine, including the Bucha massacre and bombing of a Mariupol hospital, are fake. 

Insider’s Mia Jankowicz reported that Putin’s disinformation is so effective, that Ukrainians can’t convince their own families in Russia they are under attack.