Do The Russians Want War? (Russian: «Хотят ли русские войны?») is a 1961 war song written by Yevgeny Yevtushenko, set to music by Eduard Kolmanovski. Yevtushenko later said he wrote the song in response to conversations he had with foreigners while traveling in western Europe and the United States. The lyrics evoke the peaceful Russian countryside, the memory of the millions of lives lost in the Second World War, and the friendly meeting of U.S. and Soviet soldiers on Elbe Day.