A Finnish newspaper revealed on Wednesday (May 3rd) that it had found a way around media censorship in Russia by concealing information and reports about Ukraine in a popular online game in Russia.
"
While Helsingin Sanomat and foreign independent media are blocked in Russia, online games are not banned for the time being
," Antero Mukka, the newspaper's editor, told AFP.
To discover
Follow information on the war in Ukraine with the Figaro application
Helsingin Sanomat
used the online shooter Counter-Strike, which has some four million players in Russia.
While most games are played on official levels and maps published by publisher Valve, players can create custom maps that anyone can download and use.
"
So we built a Slavic city, called Voyna, which means war in Russian
," Mukka explained.
Boutcha and Irpin massacres
In the basement of one of the buildings in the city, the technicians of
Helsingin Sanomat
have hidden a room where players can find reports in Russian made by the newspaper's war correspondents in Ukraine.
The walls of the digital room are covered with articles and photos chronicling events such as the massacres in the Ukrainian towns of Boutcha and Irpin.
On one of the walls, players can find a map of Ukraine where attacks on the civilian population are reported, while a recording in Russian reads articles from the
Helsingin Sanomat
.
This is "
information that is not available in Russian state propaganda organs
", added Antero Mukka.
Since its publication on Monday, the map has already been downloaded more than two thousand times.
“
It shows that any attempt to prevent the flow of information and to mislead the public is doomed to failure in our modern world
,” added the editor.