In modern Russia, the institution of reputation is almost entirely absent, while institutions of propaganda thrive. This creates opportunities for dishonest politicians to evade uncomfortable questions and deny proven facts, often without consequences for them. The techniques used in propaganda are not new and, unfortunately, are quite effective. One of these methods is simple denial of facts. Russian ruling structures have long used this tactic:

• "There were no Russian military in Crimea."
• "We didn't shoot down the Boeing."
• "There is no forced adoption of Ukrainian children in Russia."
• "There is no persecution of gays in Chechnya because there are no gays in Chechnya..."

It may seem that such a cynical reaction and obfuscation of the issues are a scourge of our time, but this "solution" to inconvenient questions has been characteristic of Russian rulers for a long time. Authorities have become accustomed to the fact that simply denying a problem often proves sufficient to convince a significant portion of the population, which doesn't fact-check, of an obvious lie. The lack of a public reaction to this lie legitimizes it. This is why it's important to fact-check and respond.

BACKGROUND:

In the early 19th century, one of the first educators for the blind, Valentin Haüy, achieved significant success in teaching blind people literacy, drawing, and various subjects. In 1803, at the invitation of the Imperial Court, he arrived in St. Petersburg to continue his work in Russia and establish a school for blind children from the Russian capital.

In 1806, when Valentin had already organized a school in St. Petersburg and found enthusiastic teachers, he received a surprising letter from the Ministry of Education of the Russian Empire, in which they refused to continue his work with a remarkable argument: "There are no blind children in Russia." However, Haüy did not give up, and he not only educated blind students but also provided them with food at his own expense, putting bureaucrats and the Emperor in an awkward position. The Emperor had no choice but to allocate funding for Valentin Haüy's institution. This work became a significant milestone in Valentin's career, and later, his student Louis Braille created an alphabet and script for blind people that is still used worldwide today.

On this artwork with the Braille script it’s written by the handprints of the real children: “there are no blind children in Russia”.

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