What Russian Students Are Being Taught About Ukraine Politico

Vladimir Lenin once boasted: “Give me four years to teach the children and the seed I have sown will never be uprooted.” Russian President Vladimir Putin’s Kremlin seems determined to emulate the founder of the Soviet Union.
“You are on the front lines of the information war,” Maria Zakharova, a spokeswoman for the Russian Foreign Ministry, lectured history and social studies teachers in Moscow earlier this year, giving them their marching orders. By video link, within an hour and a half, he told them that Putin had launched a “peace operation” to protect Russians in Donetsk and Luhansk, saying the West had imposed the “will of a minority” on Ukraine. ousting Viktor Yanukovych from power in 2014 with “armed fighters trained in Polish camps”. The gathering, called by Moscow’s Pedagogical Council, was called by officials to begin instructing teachers on the content of future “history” lessons, and came just four days after Russia’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine. Since then, much has been written in the West about the suppression of political dissent in Russia, the blocking of websites and the elimination of what is left of independent media. However, less attention has been paid to what is happening in Russia’s ranks as the Kremlin steps up its indoctrination — some say militarization — of the country’s youth.
Zakharova’s speech was timely as Russian tanks threatened the Ukrainian capital and terrified families huddled in Kiev metro stations or slept in underground parking lots for safety. He was speaking as Ukrainians foraged for gas, food and water alongside roads blocked by hundreds of thousands fleeing the conflict and the pounding of Russian munitions – their cars creaking under the weight of stacked luggage, hastily packed bags and cherished keepsakes and precious toys clutched by terrified children bewildered by the events that befell them. He made no mention of any of this, the sheer terror visited upon Ukraine by Russia’s so-called peace operation.
Instead, he released a highly distorted version of Ukraine’s history, a version consistent with Putin’s twisted view, as outlined in his 5,000-word pamphlet, “On the Historical Unity of Russians and Ukrainians,” denying the existence of Ukraine as an independent nation. . . No time was wasted in recruiting the country’s teachers to try to teach Putin’s version of history – and to tighten the Kremlin’s grip on schools and teachers, many fearing they will be fired if they speak out of turn. Some parents fear that questionnaires should be filled out by their children, testing their level of support for the war in Ukraine with questions such as: “Do you support the decision of the President of the Russian Federation to conduct a special military operation in Ukraine?” it will be used against them — and rightly so. In May, a teenage girl in Dagestan spoke out against the war in Ukraine and the video went viral. Officials then reportedly forced both her and her mother to issue a public apology. Soon after, he posted a video of his recantation, saying: “I was worried about the exams and, in the background of all this, I had a fight with my mother. I admit my mistake and apologize for ruining everyone’s vacation.” Her mother also apologized, saying: “I overlooked, I missed something important in raising my daughter.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin meets with students at a school in the Russian Far Eastern city of Vladivostok in 2016 | Alexei Druzhinin/AFP via Getty Images A month later, Russia’s Ministry of Education announced plans to educate parents of students. The deputy head of the ministry, Denis Gribov, noted that families “must share the values ​​formed by the education system,” adding that “the current situation has shown the urgent need for educational work with parents.” One parent I spoke to told me she was horrified. “I worry about what my child might say in class about our views and how they might be used against us.” Many of the training plans and materials put into place immediately after the February invasion had clearly been assembled weeks before, paralleling the build-up of Russian forces on Ukraine’s border. This so-called “My Country” curriculum offers a highly selective and colorful historical narrative—one with an eye toward the Holodomor, the terror famine created by Soviet technology in the 1930s that left millions of Ukrainians dead. In fact, a version for 15- to 17-year-olds begins with the announcement: “Ukraine and Russia are two parts of a single, historical, spiritual and cultural space.” Offering an eight-stage timeline, the curriculum begins with the Baptism of Russia — the mass baptism ordered by Vladimir the Great in 988 of Kievan Rus, a state in Eastern and Northern Europe from the late 9th to the mid-13th century — and culminates with Russia’s recognition of the “independent republics” of Donetsk and Luhansk this year. The curriculum claims that the USSR helped develop Ukraine. highlights the Great Patriotic War against Nazi Germany; portrays NATO as a threat to Russia, with its enlargement forcing Putin’s hand. and calls the popular Maidan uprising that overthrew satrap Putin Yanukovych a coup, stating: “Radicals, with strong Western support, seized power in 2014, orchestrated terror against those who opposed unconstitutional actions. Ukrainian cities were swept by a wave of pogroms and violence, a series of high-profile and impunity killings.” Reporting from Ukraine in 2014, I saw no pogroms, and the only impunity killings directly linked to the Maidan were those committed by elite units and riot police loyal to Yanukovych.
Since the invasion, Russian authorities have further added to their mandated lessons, extending them to all of Russia’s students, including first graders — 7-year-olds who, this summer, began learning what Russian Education Minister Sergei Kravtsov called “ record”. enlightenment.”
Russian cultural figures have been recruited to help. Nikita Mikhalkov, the Oscar-winning director of “Burnt by the Sun” and staunch Putin supporter who last week called for the eradication of the Ukrainian language, has made a highly controversial 48-minute film for Russian schoolchildren about the “origins of fascism” . ”
From this academic year, which started this week, a new series of courses was also introduced. Called Conversations About What Matters, pupils will be taught about patriotism and teachers are now being asked to talk about how the war in Ukraine is “an example of true love for country and the Russian people”.
Lessons are tailored for each age group: Those teaching the two youngest grades must talk about the love of nature as “a manifestation of love for the Motherland”, while authorized lessons for other grades will be based on slogans such as “It’s not scary to die for Russia”, “The happiness of the motherland is more valuable than life” and “Love the motherland – serve the motherland”. Teachers will also play videos explaining that Russians must “defend the Motherland at a dangerous time” and explain how the “special military operation” is protecting people in Ukraine’s Donbass from fascists and preventing an insidious NATO from developing bases in Ukraine.
As is often the case with authoritarian governments, fear is now being manufactured and weaponized in Russia’s ranks. Lenin would, indeed, be proud.

title: “What Russian Students Are Being Taught About Ukraine Politico Klmat” ShowToc: true date: “2022-12-06” author: “Dean Guthrie”

Vladimir Lenin once boasted: “Give me four years to teach the children and the seed I have sown will never be uprooted.” Russian President Vladimir Putin’s Kremlin seems determined to emulate the founder of the Soviet Union.
“You are on the front lines of the information war,” Maria Zakharova, a spokeswoman for the Russian Foreign Ministry, lectured history and social studies teachers in Moscow earlier this year, giving them their marching orders. By video link, within an hour and a half, he told them that Putin had launched a “peace operation” to protect Russians in Donetsk and Luhansk, saying the West had imposed the “will of a minority” on Ukraine. ousting Viktor Yanukovych from power in 2014 with “armed fighters trained in Polish camps”. The gathering, called by Moscow’s Pedagogical Council, was called by officials to begin instructing teachers on the content of future “history” lessons, and came just four days after Russia’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine. Since then, much has been written in the West about the suppression of political dissent in Russia, the blocking of websites and the elimination of what is left of independent media. However, less attention has been paid to what is happening in Russia’s ranks as the Kremlin steps up its indoctrination — some say militarization — of the country’s youth.
Zakharova’s speech was timely as Russian tanks threatened the Ukrainian capital and terrified families huddled in Kiev metro stations or slept in underground parking lots for safety. He was speaking as Ukrainians foraged for gas, food and water alongside roads blocked by hundreds of thousands fleeing the conflict and the pounding of Russian munitions – their cars creaking under the weight of stacked luggage, hastily packed bags and cherished keepsakes and precious toys clutched by terrified children bewildered by the events that befell them. He made no mention of any of this, the sheer terror visited upon Ukraine by Russia’s so-called peace operation.
Instead, he released a highly distorted version of Ukraine’s history, a version consistent with Putin’s twisted view, as outlined in his 5,000-word pamphlet, “On the Historical Unity of Russians and Ukrainians,” denying the existence of Ukraine as an independent nation. . . No time was wasted in recruiting the country’s teachers to try to teach Putin’s version of history – and to tighten the Kremlin’s grip on schools and teachers, many fearing they will be fired if they speak out of turn. Some parents fear that questionnaires should be filled out by their children, testing their level of support for the war in Ukraine with questions such as: “Do you support the decision of the President of the Russian Federation to conduct a special military operation in Ukraine?” it will be used against them — and rightly so. In May, a teenage girl in Dagestan spoke out against the war in Ukraine and the video went viral. Officials then reportedly forced both her and her mother to issue a public apology. Soon after, he posted a video of his recantation, saying: “I was worried about the exams and, in the background of all this, I had a fight with my mother. I admit my mistake and apologize for ruining everyone’s vacation.” Her mother also apologized, saying: “I overlooked, I missed something important in raising my daughter.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin meets with students at a school in the Russian Far Eastern city of Vladivostok in 2016 | Alexei Druzhinin/AFP via Getty Images A month later, Russia’s Ministry of Education announced plans to educate parents of students. The deputy head of the ministry, Denis Gribov, noted that families “must share the values ​​formed by the education system,” adding that “the current situation has shown the urgent need for educational work with parents.” One parent I spoke to told me she was horrified. “I worry about what my child might say in class about our views and how they might be used against us.” Many of the training plans and materials put into place immediately after the February invasion had clearly been assembled weeks before, paralleling the build-up of Russian forces on Ukraine’s border. This so-called “My Country” curriculum offers a highly selective and colorful historical narrative—one with an eye toward the Holodomor, the terror famine created by Soviet technology in the 1930s that left millions of Ukrainians dead. In fact, a version for 15- to 17-year-olds begins with the announcement: “Ukraine and Russia are two parts of a single, historical, spiritual and cultural space.” Offering an eight-stage timeline, the curriculum begins with the Baptism of Russia — the mass baptism ordered by Vladimir the Great in 988 of Kievan Rus, a state in Eastern and Northern Europe from the late 9th to the mid-13th century — and culminates with Russia’s recognition of the “independent republics” of Donetsk and Luhansk this year. The curriculum claims that the USSR helped develop Ukraine. highlights the Great Patriotic War against Nazi Germany; portrays NATO as a threat to Russia, with its enlargement forcing Putin’s hand. and calls the popular Maidan uprising that overthrew satrap Putin Yanukovych a coup, stating: “Radicals, with strong Western support, seized power in 2014, orchestrated terror against those who opposed unconstitutional actions. Ukrainian cities were swept by a wave of pogroms and violence, a series of high-profile and impunity killings.” Reporting from Ukraine in 2014, I saw no pogroms, and the only impunity killings directly linked to the Maidan were those committed by elite units and riot police loyal to Yanukovych.
Since the invasion, Russian authorities have further added to their mandated lessons, extending them to all of Russia’s students, including first graders — 7-year-olds who, this summer, began learning what Russian Education Minister Sergei Kravtsov called “ record”. enlightenment.”
Russian cultural figures have been recruited to help. Nikita Mikhalkov, the Oscar-winning director of “Burnt by the Sun” and staunch Putin supporter who last week called for the eradication of the Ukrainian language, has made a highly controversial 48-minute film for Russian schoolchildren about the “origins of fascism” . ”
From this academic year, which started this week, a new series of courses was also introduced. Called Conversations About What Matters, pupils will be taught about patriotism and teachers are now being asked to talk about how the war in Ukraine is “an example of true love for country and the Russian people”.
Lessons are tailored for each age group: Those teaching the two youngest grades must talk about the love of nature as “a manifestation of love for the Motherland”, while authorized lessons for other grades will be based on slogans such as “It’s not scary to die for Russia”, “The happiness of the motherland is more valuable than life” and “Love the motherland – serve the motherland”. Teachers will also play videos explaining that Russians must “defend the Motherland at a dangerous time” and explain how the “special military operation” is protecting people in Ukraine’s Donbass from fascists and preventing an insidious NATO from developing bases in Ukraine.
As is often the case with authoritarian governments, fear is now being manufactured and weaponized in Russia’s ranks. Lenin would, indeed, be proud.