As a South African born after apartheid, I was taught how international pressure — sanctions, boycotts, and isolation — helped to end a racist regime.
International refusal to collaborate was part of the fight.
So I’m always stunned when people get outraged over russians being excluded from events, projects, or communities. Ukrainians are being invaded, bombed, and buried — and somehow the “real tragedy” is that russians don't feel included?
It’s not “punishing russians.” It’s about what you represent. If your country is committing genocide and you're still benefiting from global platforms while its victims are fighting for survival — that’s not neutrality. That’s erasure.
In South Africa, artists, athletes, academics — all faced global exclusion during apartheid (those who spoke out were assassinated, imprisoned, or exiled — or self-exiled). It worked. It mattered. Because the world refused to pretend things were fine.
Now Ukrainians are asking the same: stop giving platforms to those who excuse, ignore, or benefit from russia’s war. And when companies listen — like WePlay just did — people act like it’s some kind of injustice.
russians are not being “punished.” They are simply not being welcomed while their country wages a genocidal war. That is not hate. That is a consequence. And frankly, it’s the bare minimum.
If you find it easier to empathise with excluded russians than with bombed Ukrainians, that’s not “compassion.” That’s moral confusion. You’ve forgotten who the aggressor is.
This isn’t about gatekeeping. It’s about refusing to let an imperialist war be normalised through content, culture, and “community.” Choosing not to participate in that is not censorship — it’s solidarity.
I can't believe this needs to be explained.
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Ivan Shevtsov 
@JohntaOfficial
WePlay is doing the right thing.
While Russians just act like always.
p.s. It’s not only about Ukraine, Russians were silent and completely fine when their countrymen were killing people in Georgia, bombing cities in Syria, and committing war crimes after another in Africa. x.com/weplay_studios…
