Finnish daily uses shooter videogame to dodge Russia's press restrictions

Editor-in-chief Antero Mukka said that the paper was forced to be creative to try to overcome the restrictions. They decided to hide articles in Russian about Russia's conflict in Ukraine within the popular shooter game Counter-Strike.

Russia has crackeddown on independent journalism after initiating what Moscow refers to as "a special military operations" in Ukraine's neighbour last year. The country has banned free reporting and denied Russians access to media produced abroad.

Helsingin Sanomat, in response to Moscow's laws restricting the freedom of press in Russia and Ukraine, began publishing some Ukraine and Russia-related news in Russian in last year. However, access to its content from Russia was quickly restricted.

Mukka said: "We have been concerned about the situation of press freedom and freedom to speak in Russia. We decided it might be possible to find new channels which could provide Russian audiences with reliable, independent journalism, for example, about the conditions in Ukraine."

Newzoo data revealed that Counter-Strike was released in 2012 by the U.S.-based Valve Corporation, a private video game maker. It ranks amongst the top 10 PC games worldwide.

The paper created a map depicting a war-torn Slavic town that was not named, but which it called "de_voyna". This is a reference to "voyna", the Russian word for war, which in Russia, in relation to the conflict in Ukraine, is forbidden to be used.

The map hides a secret chamber where the newspaper hid images and text detailing the brutalities witnessed by its journalists and photographers in Ukraine during war.

Mukka stated that the newspaper had not requested Valve's permission to run the campaign, as the game allows players to add their own content.

He said: "If, because of this game some young men from Russia happen to reflect for a few seconds on what's going on in Ukraine, then it is worth it."

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