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Brian Lehrer: Brian Lehrer on WNYC. Last week, actor -- where do actors fall on the Who's Crazier Than Who scale, I wonder, -- but last week, actor, bodybuilder, and former governor of California Arnold Schwarzenegger became an unlikely hero in the fight against Russian president Vladimir Putin's disinformation war. Have you seen this video released on social media? A lot of people are talking about it. It's got subtitles in Russian. Schwarzenegger describes how he sees what's happening in Ukraine. Most of what he says will come as no surprise to most of you or anyone who's been following the conflict here in the US, really.
That's because his audience for this video is not in the west, it's the Russian people over the heads of Vladimir Putin. Here's 18 seconds of that video.
Arnold Schwarzenegger: I'm sending this message to various different channels to reach my dear Russian friends and the Russian soldiers serving in Ukraine. I'm speaking to you today because there are things that are going on in the world that have been kept from you, terrible things that you should know about.
Brian Lehrer: Arnold Schwarzenegger there from the video, that's one of many attempts to inform Russians about what's happening in Ukraine. Last Monday, you may have seen the clip of a Russian state TV producer bursting onto a government news broadcast with a sign that read "No War". That producer according to the Washington Post has since been jailed. Now, we want to open up the phones for listeners with ties to Russia. Are you trying to talk about the war in Ukraine to people in Russia who don't know what's going on because state-controlled media is all they see? Give us a call, 212-433-WNYC. Again, this is for listeners with ties to Russia.
Are you trying to talk about the war in Ukraine to anyone there who may not know what's really going on? If so, how are you trying to reach people? Maybe you've used Telegram, the uncensored group chat service popular in Russia, don't tell Vlad, that's going on to spread updates about the war in Ukraine. If so, tweet @BrianLehrer, we can take your tweets on this, or better yet give us a call at 212-433-WNYC, 212-433-9692.
This is one of those call-ins that's a little bit of a risk because we don't know if we're going to get anybody who's actually doing this, but if there is anyone out there, I think after the Schwarzenegger video, for example, it's just going to be so interesting and maybe important for people to hear about your efforts. Maybe you're someone who immigrated here from Russia or someone whose family is Russian, do you have any relatives or friends who live in Russia and believe what President Putin and the Kremlin are telling them, or not telling them, about the war in Ukraine? 212-433-WNYC.
What do they tell you when you say their country is, according to President Joe Biden and other American politicians, committing war crimes? 212-433-WNYC. If anybody has a story to tell, 212-433-9692. We're getting some calls now I see. I'll cast the net a little bit wider. What about people here in this country who even with a free press might still believe that there's nothing unusual or wrong about what's happening in Ukraine, people who might believe that President Putin is actually attempting to de-nazify Ukraine as he lies that he is. Do you know anyone like that? If so, how do you try to talk to them about the war even here? Jessie in Maplewood, you're on WNYC. Hi, Jessie, thanks for calling in.
Jessie: Hey, Brian. I'm just calling about my-- it's my husband actually, he's on a work call, so I couldn't get him to call in. He's from Moscow, but he grew up partially in Odesa and he's Jewish and a Russian speaker. He's been in this weird position where he has relatives who are in Odesa who are watching Russian television and believing the Russian propaganda and their son is [inaudible 00:04:37] he's not in the military, but he can't leave. He's trying to convince them, he's working with some volunteer organizations and trying to convince his parents of what's really happening, hasn't reached them yet, and my husband [crosstalk]--
Brian Lehrer: What do they say to him?
Jessie: They believe some of this propaganda, I don't know if they believe that there are Nazis in the cover. I don't know what they believe exactly, but I think their understanding that Mykolaiv is right near them and is under fire, and certainly Odesa is a prize in all of this, and I don't know, I don't how they are not understanding what's going on, but I guess the propaganda is so strong. My husband's been trying to call [unintelligible 00:05:33]-- he's here, he's been trying to call Russians and use some service, I couldn't ask him exactly what it is, where he's trying to sort of tell Russians what is going on. He's very upset and very engaged.
Brian Lehrer: Jessie, thank you for that story. Paul in Washington Heights, you're on WNYC. Hi, Paul.
Paul: Oh, hello, Brian. My wife left Moscow on July 4th, 1976, and we've had a strong connection with her friends and family there ever since. She's been trying to reach them through phone calls, through messaging apps, and the reaction has been quite varied. They're either afraid, and understandably so. Like one of them said, "Oh, please, let's not talk about it, I just can't deal with the stress, it's too threatening." Others have been defending the Russian action based on what they've heard in mainstream Russian medium. I can say that it has my family just profoundly upset.
Brian Lehrer: Paul, thank you. Thank you for chiming in. Almira in Brooklyn, you're on WNYC. Did I say your name right? Is it Almira?
Almira: Yes, yes, yes. Thank you so much taking my call. Actually, it's so painful to talk to my friends, to my family because I even don't know how to explain. I'm trying to send them information in Russian because they don't understand English and they don't read English and even trying to explain just by my own words, they're so resisting. I'm like losing my parts of the body because I can't fight for them, I can't explain them how the monsters now, the zombies, and they're trying to send me information back to how America invade like 50 countries already, they put their own democracy, whatever. It's upsetting, it's unexplainable, and they're actually true believers.
I think I'm still trying to be kind, trying not to confront-- They already call me stupid American, and 25 years I'm here. Yes, it's already my country, and I'm true American actually, but I understand where they're coming from and I'm trying to explain going back to the history like Stalin how [unintelligible 00:08:32] came to-- first, they took Telegraph, that Putin came and took first channel first and how it happened. I'm trying to educate myself here because it's so bizarre that they calling Ukrainians fascists and just some words that they using, this is how fascists used this, but I said, "No, but look at USD, it's fascism there soon."
I'm trying to put similarities, I don't know they're going to see that, or I'm actually going to lose my friends.
Brian Lehrer: Oh Almira, what a story that's obviously personally difficult and maybe tragic, in addition to the frustration of not being able to convince people of the truth of the world situation. Here's a tweet from listener Richard that says I have lots of friends in Russia. Fortunately, I can reach them on WhatsApp. They are pretty much unanimously appalled by what's going on. The ones who live here, however, are fighting with their parents, et cetera," sounds like Almira story a little bit, "fighting with their parents, et cetera, who get no real news and buy into Putin's lies." Tatiana on Staten Island, you're on WNYC. Hi, Tatiana.
Tatiana: Hello. Thank you. Thank you for taking my phone call. I'm originally from Russia, but like I said, my grand great mother was Lithuanian so I have Ukrainian and Russian roots. I was born in [unintelligible 00:10:16] and I'm trying to talk to my friends through Russian side classmates. I was surprised. I don't know why, but a lot of my friends stopped talking to me or blocked me and they start to tell me that they feel sorry for us, for Americans, that we don't have the right information about what is going on in Ukraine. I get also a lot of blame and cursing. I'm used to spend my summers in Mykolaiv, my grandma, my aunt lived there, and they passed away.
I still had relatives there, they were able to come to Odessa. I [crosstalk]--
Brian Lehrer: Tatiana, we have 30 seconds Left. Why do you think they believe Russian media over you?
Tatiana: Because I grew up in Russia and I know what is on TV and what is in the newspapers, what they don't know. I grew up there and I sense, and I know how it was, so it's not changing now. It's like Putin wants to go back how it was before.
Brian Lehrer: Tatiana, thank you for your call. Well, a very interesting and revealing sample, I think, of some people with ties to Russia and how difficult it is to break through the propaganda. Thank you for your calls. That's the Brian Lehrer Show for today produced by Mary Croke, Lisa Allison, Zoe Azulay, Amina Srna and Carl Boisrond. Our interns this spring semester are Anna Conkling, Gigi Steckel, and Diego Munhoz. Zach Gottehrer-Cohen edits our national politics podcast, and we had Sharm Sondra and Juliana Fonda at the audio controls.
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