It's quite telling that after three years of full-scale war, we're still discussing this issue. That's because we approach the problem emotionally rather than pragmatically. We talk about what we feel instead of what we want. We seek emotional validation when we should be striving for victory.It’s very telling that Ukrainians primarily demand that the “good Russians” acknowledge their collective responsibility, rather than abandon their imperial mindset. But this approach brings us nothing but moral satisfaction - because accountability won’t be decided by the Russians themselves, but by international institutions, and only if we win. In the case of defeat, that acknowledgment is of little use to us. Therefore, what we need is victory and lasting peace - everything else will follow.In a multidimensional, multi-level war, one of the areas of confrontation is the minds of Western elites. So we don't have the luxury of proudly turning around and walking away, leaving the Russians to face the West alone.Here are some simple principles for such cases:1. We have to be present at all platforms where our audience is present. We have no right to leave Russians alone with an audience that is important to us.2. When you are on a stage or platform with Russians, do not pay attention to them - you are not there for them, but for the audience. Don't argue with the Russians (giving them the opportunity to drag you into their narratives), but promote your vision, if necessary, in a tough way. If you are not invited again, it is not a problem, they will invite you elsewhere after hearing about your brilliant performance. Don't play their games - impose your own. And don't forget to thank the Western audience.3. All Russian imperialists are our enemies, even if they are against Putin. Such anti-Putin imperialists dream of replacing Putin in the Kremlin, leaving everything as it is. This approach paves the way for the next war. They have no chance of getting into the Kremlin anyway, but their activities create a false and very harmful idea in the West about the possibility of democracy in Russia and the existence of an anti-Putin opposition (and thus, we can stop putting pressure on Russia and not seek its defeat, but wait for the resumption of "business as usual").“4. The key to recognizing an emperor is thus not only the question “whose Crimea?” but also the question of whose Kazan, Grozny, Ufa, Makhachkala, etc. The number of “good Russians” who will answer correctly is insignificant. The rest do not deserve our attention.”5. Being in an imperial prison does not automatically make a Russian less of an imperialist (Lenin and his associates were in an imperial prison before they became leaders of the empire). The number of anti-imperial Russians in prison is very small, and such people deserve our support.6. Therefore, I once again suggest that we should not divide Russians into good and bad, but rather into useful, harmful, and unimportant. The useful ones bring our victory closer, the harmful ones take it further away, and all the rest are simply unimportant and should not be wasted.7. If we want to look for good people so badly, then let's not look for good Russians, but for good non-Russian people.8. Moral and criminal responsibility is a consequence of our victory and the establishment of sustainable peace, not the other way around.9. Our tough stance on Russians, described above (no cooperation, no arguments, no chance to become a lone star on the stage), leads to the migration of the best Russians to support Ukraine. This is an extremely small but significant cohort.10. The Ukrainian Defense Forces' successes will lead to the Russians seeking a new position. We have to wait for them wherever they come in search of this position and welcome them there.11. If we win, we will see a parade of not only old but also new identities, so the question of “good Russians” will be removed. Not only Chechens, Tatars, Circassians, Bashkirs, Sakha, etc., but also Siberians, Uralians, and so on will take their rightful place in the international arena.12. To summarize once again: our tasks are essentially marketing - we need to change the attitude and way of acting of the target audience. Therefore, our principles should be marketing: we should not say what we want or believe or are provoked to say, but what will make the target audience change their point of view and way of acting.* Speech at Lviv Media ForumSourceAbout the author. Valerii Pekar, lecturer at the Kyiv-Mohyla Academy.The editors do not always share the opinions expressed by the blog authors.