Why I started a ‘hotline’ for young people seeking peace
By Ivan Siluianov | Voices of Tomorrow | May 18, 2026
Youth Fusion held the inaugural session of the Youth Hotline campaign in June 2023, with 17 participants from 16 countries. Photo courtesy of Ivan Siluianov Share
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It has been more than four years since Russia invaded Ukraine and changed my life. I happened to be in Moscow on the day of the “special military operation,” a catchphrase used by Russian authorities in place of the word “war,” which was erased from public rhetoric. The night before the invasion, my roommate and I were frantically scrolling through the Telegram messaging app, trying to make sense of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s recognition of the Donetsk and Luhansk republics in eastern Ukraine as independent states. As students at Russia’s top diplomatic academy, we were also asking ourselves a quieter question: What did this mean for our future?
The following morning, I woke up to footage of Russian troops crossing into Ukraine. I remember sitting in disbelief. I felt deceived. For years, I had developed a habit of treating information from both Russian and Western sources with caution. That instinct suddenly felt insufficient. As I made my way to campus on that dark, freezing morning of February 24, 2022, I wondered who I should believe and what was actually happening.
When I arrived, I sensed that many other students were wondering the same thing. Some professors were cautious and subdued. That did not surprise me. Many of them were former diplomats who had spent long careers inside the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. One reaction, however, stood out for its sheer absurdity. It was my first class of the day: Global Security Issues, taught by a senior diplomat from the foreign policy planning department. More than 50 students joined the class on Zoom, but it felt less like a lecture and more like a confrontation.
“How do our country’s actions comply with the international law we study so diligently?” I asked.
Other questions followed. The chat quickly filled with sharp, critical remarks.
“I don’t want NATO missiles to land on my kids’ heads,” the professor replied. “I feel ashamed of you for picking Swiss cheese and French wine over the safety of our people.” Her voice sounded defensive and emotional.
For the first time, it felt freeing to argue.
Meanwhile, friends from Finland and the United States flooded me with messages about bombings and civilian casualties. I dismissed many of them. I did not want them to be true. Studying in an environment where Western reporting was routinely labeled foreign propaganda made it easier to doubt, harder to confront reality. But reality has a way of breaking through.
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At that time, I was working part-time for a Swedish language school online. I had always believed that languages build bridges. They help create trust and a sense of belonging. As a teenager, I set out to learn six foreign languages to better understand the world around me. I did not expect that Swedish would one day reshape my understanding of peace.
In 2022, Sweden became one of many European states that welcomed Ukrainian refugees. Through my teaching, I met Ukrainian doctors, factory workers, and business owners who spoke Russian and had a familiar sense of humor. The difference was that they had been forced to leave their homes. I had not. Listening to their stories made the war tangible in a way no news article ever could. While I was teaching them Swedish, they were teaching me resilience and kindness. Their stories spoke louder than any political narrative. Those conversations shifted something in me. They clarified my values. They also gave birth to an idea: a campaign that could promote peace and disarmament through personal connection and stories.
As the war continued, nuclear rhetoric became increasingly visible in public discourse. In Russia, references to nuclear escalation were used to frame the conflict as existential and to deter deeper Western involvement. At the same time, there was virtually no domestic space for meaningful nuclear disarmament dialogue. That absence pushed me to look outward.
I found such a space in Youth Fusion, a network of young professionals committed to educating the next generation about nuclear disarmament and broader peace and security issues. At a time when most international projects involving Russia were mothballed, it was refreshing to participate in an international, intergenerational dialogue with policy practitioners and advocates working on risk reduction.
Out of that exchange of ideas, I created the Youth Hotline.
The Hotline is an educational initiative designed to connect young people from the United States, Russia, Ukraine, and beyond. The name draws on the famous Cold War direct line between Washington and Moscow, reinterpreted for a generation that believes peace requires more than two leaders talking. In its first iteration, the Hotline brought together 21 participants from 15 countries. Over four intensive weeks, they took part in expert webinars, worked on a themed project focused on nuclear disarmament, and built connections through dedicated networking sessions—all alongside academics, researchers, and diplomats. The goal was to examine what peace means: not as an abstract ideal, but as a responsibility. The Hotline built relationships across political divides. Human connection became the foundation.
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It has been humbling to see how the project opened new opportunities for some participants in peace and security work globally. At a time when my own career aspirations in Russia were quietly crumbling, building the Hotline gave me a renewed sense of purpose.
This year, the program entered its second iteration, focusing on nuclear risk reduction and built around the principle that young people should be co-creators of solutions, not just learners. The new team introduced diplomatic simulations, placing participants in the role of state delegates navigating a fictional nuclear crisis at the United Nations, as well as mentorship opportunities with practitioners and civil society experts. The aim was not only discussion, but preparation.
The generation growing up today is witnessing war unfold in real time. The narratives young people absorb now will shape the decisions they make in the future. If they grow up sealed within rigid and propagandistic worldviews, the divisions of today may harden into the conflicts of tomorrow. If instead we connect young people early and across borders, expose them to dialogue, and equip them with the tools to think critically and empathetically, we create a different possibility.
Today’s young people will one day hold positions of influence. The question is whether our leaders will leave them to inherit grievance and fear, or whether they will help them cultivate the capacity to lead with responsibility and peace.
Together, we make the world safer.
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Keywords: Russia, Ukraine, Youth Fusion, Youth Hotline, disarmament, peace
Topics: Nuclear Risk, Nuclear Weapons, Personal Essay, Voices of TomorrowShare
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