Thread by @WilliamYang120

Before Twitter was blocked in #Russia, the site saw frequent discussions about how people might be able to persuade their parents not to believe Kremlin propaganda — and, above all, not to support the war in #Ukraine. dw.com/en/young-russi…

According to a survey by the state-led opinion research institute VCIOM, 68% of Russians support the war, which within the country can only officially be referred to as a "special military operation."

There are hardly any critical or independent press outlets left, and older people in particular get most of their news from state television.

"This is an all-out war and I am definitely against it. On the first day, I was totally shocked and cried when I read the news. I am ashamed and sad, and I feel responsible for the fact that the sickness of our land, in the form of our president,...

... is affecting not only us, but also people in another country. I never voted for this government, and I have taken part in protests."

"I am going to protests now, as well, and I have already signed everything there was to sign against the war. I talk with people about what they can do to have some kind of an impact on the situation.

My friends and I have started going to a metro station in Moscow and handing out green bands as a symbol of peace. We have had all sorts of responses."

"An older man came up to us with tears in his eyes and asked for a second band for his wife. And then there was an older woman who yelled all the way down the street that we were fascists and needed to be killed."

"My parents also live in Moscow. My father is 59 years old and works for a cash transportation company. My mother is 63 and retired. She used to work as a scriptwriter for children's shows. When all this started in Ukraine, we argued.

My parents believed everything they saw on television. On the morning of February 26, I called my brother, who shares my opinion. I suggested to him that we all sit down together and talk. We were partly successful."

"We got our father to realize that this is all terrible. Since then, he has started to think critically. Even before, he had begun to understand that not everything was as they said it was on TV.

But these new realizations were a disaster for him. He had a seizure and couldn't breathe. His entire thinking about Russia and his people was completely shattered."

"After my mother retired, all she did was watch TV, and it turned her into a fanatical Putin supporter. We tried to persuade her to read other sources, but she won't hear of it.

As soon as you suggest to her that her ideology might be wrong, she gets angry and aggressive, like that old woman on the street who called us fascists."

"When it became known that Kadyrov [head of the Chechen Republic — Editor's note] was sending his troop of cold-blooded murderers to Ukraine, she was so happy she practically applauded. That hurts."

"My mother and I are no longer in contact with each other. Maybe I'll talk with her about it one day, when she's experiencing all the consequences and her rose-tinted glasses begin to crack."

"But our father is on our side. He was always opposed to me going to protests, just because he was worried about me. But after all our conversations, to my amazement, he told me that if I went to protests again, he would come with me."

Anton, 24-year-old designer in Moscow: "I believe that war is unacceptable. I have served in the army, and it was clear to me then that something was wrong in our country. We weren't allowed to take photos of broken equipment, and the officers stole petrol."

"When I came back from the army, I started going to protest rallies. The war is a product of this system, which is why I'm trying to convince my mother that what is happening in Russia is not normal."

"On the second day of the war, February 25, we talked about everything without quarreling and getting angry. I set things out in logical sequence, presented her with arguments, suggested she read Orwell."

"We talked the next day, quite calmly. But I don't think I can convince her. Her thinking is all muddled, but I'll still keep trying. For example, we both agreed that we find Boris Nemtsov [Russian politician and...

... Putin critic who was killed in 2015 in Moscow — Editor's note] really good."

Alena, 26-year-old economist: "I admit that different generations can perhaps have different ways of looking at certain things, but not the things that are happening right now.

I'm happy that my parents seem to share my opinion about the war; I don't know how anyone can think differently about it and still be a good person."

"I always think: If people justify this slaughter, what else will they justify? You don't want parents like that. But we children can help them, for example, by providing orientation amid all this information."