Not Our War: The Effects of Response Strategies and Message Frames From a Russian Association on the Public’s Attitude Toward Russians Living in Germany

The ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine has adverse effects on Russians residing outside of their home country. To test whether a crisis communication strategy by a Russian association can mitigate the adverse effects, a 3 × 2 online experiment with 404 participants representing the general German population was implemented. Crisis communication strategy (denial vs. diminish vs. bolstering) and framing (emotional vs. rational) of a statement given by a Russian cultural organization in Germany on the news about Russian war crimes in the Ukraine were manipulated. By an intervention tournament design, two reference groups (comment declined vs. no manipulation) were employed. Our results show that a statement by the Russian association significantly positively affects respondents’ attitudes toward this association. Furthermore, when the statement was framed emotionally, participants had a more positive attitude toward the association. The type of crisis communication strategy used is of minor importance if a comment is provided.