A new history textbook adopted in Russian schools today teaches that Ukraine has neo-Nazi authorities, that Russia is a victim of Western economic blockade and that the invasion is a matter of survival.
It is included in the school curriculum of the war, which was triggered by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022, which Moscow refers to as a “special military operation”.
One of the authors, former culture minister and presidential adviser Vladimir Medinsky, said it was “an anomaly” that the handbook did not include the military campaign that began 18 months ago.
For this, the space devoted to other materials was reduced, which provoked criticism from experts, who consider that the manual does not use historical sources and repeats the Kremlin propaganda (presidency).
Students in the last two years of secondary education (ages 16-18) who started classes today must learn the topic “Russia Today”. Special military operation”, according to the Spanish agency EFE.
The manual includes a map of Russia with the Ukrainian regions of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhia annexed a year ago, although the Russian military does not fully control them.
The Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea was already annexed in 2014.
The authors accuse the West of promoting “Russophobia” and revolutions in the post-Soviet space in order to achieve the disintegration of the Russian Federation and control over the country’s resources.
The “main ram” of this policy will be Ukraine, where, since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, an entire generation has been trained to hate Russia and support “neo-Nazi ideas,” according to the local press.
“Ukraine is an ultranationalist state,” where dissent is persecuted and considered hostile to “all Russians,” the authors of the manual say.
It is also noted that the invasion of Ukraine united Russians and created a veritable cult of the heroes of the conflict.
It is taught that Ukraine is using civilians as “human shields” and that the Russian military has been ordered not to fire into populated areas.
“Draw your own conclusions about Ukraine’s new military tactics,” the authors advise students.
Amnesty International (AI) said the new history handbook was “a blatant and illegal attempt to teach it in schools in Russia and in Russian-occupied areas of Ukraine”.
“The book hides the truth,” condemned Anna Wright, an AI researcher for Eastern Europe and Central Asia.
The manual “distorts the facts about serious human rights violations and crimes under international law committed by Russian forces against the people of Ukraine,” Wright said.
As for AI, Russia, as the occupying power of the Ukrainian territories, is obliged to comply with the International Convention on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and the Rights of the Child.
Moscow “must respect, protect and fulfill the right to education, not violate it by encouraging students to campaign,” he said.
“Teaching children (…) is a cynical attempt to eradicate Ukrainian culture, heritage and identity, as well as a violation of their right to education,” Wright said.