As writers we are appealing to everyone who speaks the Russian language today. To the people of all nationalities. To those who are native speakers. To those for whom Russian is the second or the third language. It does not matter now.

Today the Russian language is being used by the Russian state to ignite hatred and justify the shameful war against Ukraine.

Russian people have been fed lies for many years. The independent sources of the information have been almost entirely destroyed. The opposition leaders – silenced. The state propaganda machine is working with all its might.

But now it is сritical to reveal to the Russian citizens the full truth about the Russian aggression against Ukraine. About the suffering and losses of the Ukrainian nation. About civilians being targeted and killed. About the danger to the whole European continent. And possibly – to the whole of humanity, given the fact of the nuclear threat.

You share their language.

It matters.

Please, use all possible means of communication. Phones. Messengers. Emails. Reach the people you know. Reach the people you don`t know. Tell the truth. If Vladimir Putin is blind and deaf, maybe the Russians will listen to those who speak the same language.

This wrongful war should be stopped.

#SkipPutinTalkToTheRussians
Владимир Сорокин \ Vladimir Sorokin
Светлана Алексиевич \Svetlana Alexievich
Людмила Улицкая \ Lyudmila Ulitskaya
Дмитрий Глуховский \ Dmitry Glukhovsky
Виктор Шендерович \Victor Shenderovich
Мария Степанова \ Maria Stepanova
Сергей Лебедев \ Sergei Lebedev
Лиза Александрова-Зорина \ Liza Alexandrova-Zorina
Саша Филипенко \ Sascha Filipenko
Алиса Ганиева \ Alisa Ganieva
Виктор Мартинович \ Viktar Martinowich
Максим Осипов \ Maxim Osipov
Александр Генис \ Alexander Genis
Лев Рубинштейн \ Lev Rubinstein
Александр Иличевский \Alexander Ilichevsky
Михаил Шишкин\ Mikhail Shishkin

International supporters: Amir Hassan Cheheltan / J.M. Coetzee / Mathias Énard / Nuruddin Farah / Christoph Hein / Elfriede Jelinek / Pankaj Mishra / Herta Müller / Ilija Trojanow et al.

Grafik: PEN