A Scottish Bed and Breakfast owner has inspired a massive propaganda fightback against Putin’s invasion - from an unlikely nerve centre in the Highlands.
Neil Campbell, who lived in Kyiv for ten years, was inspired by old images from World War 2 that sought to demotivate German soldiers.
The former publisher generated a stream of billboard messages aimed at the Russian army, which he sent to PR high flyer Alina Smolina Medynska, whom he used to employ while in Kyiv. The messages were being blasted on large billboards up and down Ukraine within days.
Alina - who was forced to flee her Kyiv home at the weekend - used her contacts within the Ukraine government to engage with the country’s military psychologists, which resulted in the slogans being quickly adapted and rolled out.
Neil, who runs the Strathassynt guesthouse in Ballachulish with Ukrainian wife Katya, said: “The idea came from my history lessons, specifically of the leafleting campaign to demoralise German soldiers.
“The propaganda went two way, with Germans leafleting British troops.
“I became aware that, once Russian soldiers were being captured, they were making it clear that they had been told they were a liberating force and they would be welcomed by Ukraine with open arms.
“They seemed ripe for educating on what is really happening, so I bounced the idea off a few private businesses in Kyiv, who weren’t interested.
“Alina was a different story because she embraced the idea and really got it up and running within days and it’s incredible to see how the billboards have sprouted up in towns and cities all over Ukraine.”
He added: “The messages went from short and sharp - like ‘Russian soldiers f*** off!’ to ones that targeted their conscience.
“Alina’s first messages were angry and very direct but the military input led to more reasoned slogans. Different parts of the country are now producing their own slogans.”
Other messages include:
•Russian Soldiers, how will you look in the eyes of your children? Leave, keep your humanity
•Russian soldiers, stop! Don’t kill your soul for Putin’s oligarchs. Leave without blood on your hands
•Russian Soldiers, Stop! Putin lost! All the world is with Ukraine. Leave without blood on your hands.
•Russian soldiers, stop! Remember your family. Go back to them with a clear conscience.
PR boss Alina spoke to the Record from her home in central Kyiv but has been forced to flee after a Russian aircraft reportedly crashed into a block next to her apartment.
Last night she was thought to be seeking refuge in west Ukraine.
She said: “I’m really grateful to Neil because he inspired the idea.
“He just had this idea that during the Second World War, there were these postcards or the written paper messages that were disseminated by the Soviet propaganda among the German soldiers.
“And then step by step they were throwing down various paper sheets. With the slogans and also helped undermine the morale of the German soldiers. So we thought this was a great idea.
“I have a very good friend who used to be the head of the city’s advertising management unit and he helped organise the printing of slogans in every small town of the country.
“It was impossible to print these banners and posters in one place, so we spread it out. The efforts have been down to the courage of each individual contributing to this project, printing this banner and putting it on the billboards.”
Alina added: “Our original messages were really aggressive, with a lot of our anger coming out.
“But we had discussions with military psychologists and they suggested that we adjust our messages and make them more humane, not allow any hatred to display itself.
“So the messages are now addressing the soldiers who failed to understand why they are even here in this land.
“We are trying to listen to them and tell them they are not wanted here. They have been deceived. They have been told they came here to help us which is not true, but we don’t need them here.
“We never invited them here. They are killing the Ukrainian citizens, destroying our homes.
“People are fleeing and hiding in the bomb shelters and in the basements and they undermined the supplies the delivery of food supplies.
“So we are asking them and we are begging them and we are trying to appeal to their conscience to their mind to their human feelings, family related stuff and all that kind of things.
“And we’re saying that Putin has lost and the entire world that is supporting Ukraine - se we hope the words can be a weapon.”
Poignantly, when the Record spoke to Alina at the weekend she told us she was ready to flee at any point.
Just a day before she was forced to abandon her home she said: “We don’t plan anything even for five minutes ahead because any second, any moment, we are ready to rush to run away, to flee. We are ready.”
Neil and Katya Campbell have been helping gather aid for Ukraine, with generous local people in Lochaber and Inverness, donating more than 150 boxes of goods. The Polish community across Scotland has worked flat out to help refugees from their neighbouring country.
The aid - which has benefited by a massive discount from local retailer Mountain Warehouse - has focused in items requested by territorial guard units around Kyiv, like sleeping bags, thermal underwear, baby clothes, nappies and other items that are getting scarce as war descends.
