Russian students began the first day of a new school year with words of encouragement from President Vladimir Putin and a revised history textbook that critics say is intended to “incite anger toward Ukrainians” and explain to future conscripts “why they are putting on uniforms and boots.”
Speaking via a video link to students on September 1, Putin listed a litany of accomplishments that he claimed the government had achieved, saying the country was setting an example “in creating conditions for the education of the younger generation.”
But he didn't mention the new textbook for high-school students that, among other things, justifies Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
SEE ALSO: Books To Boots: Critics Say New Russian History Textbook Is Propaganda, Preparation For WarThe revised history textbook is to be used for students in the 11th grade -- the final year of high school. It is full of “Russian official propaganda cliches” and tries to justify Russia’s illegal actions, including its illegal annexation of Crimea in 2014 and its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Amnesty International noted in a statement on September 1.
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“The textbook conceals the truth and misrepresents the facts about serious human rights violations and crimes under international law committed by Russian forces against Ukrainians,” said Anna Wright, Amnesty International researcher for Eastern Europe and Central Asia.
“Indoctrination of children at a vulnerable stage of their development is a cynical attempt to eradicate Ukrainian culture, heritage and identity and is also a violation of the right to education” Wright added.
Vladimir Medinsky, a nationalist aide to Putin who served as culture minister between 2012 2020 and is one of the authors of the new textbook, said on August 8 that “the section about the period from the 1970s until the 2000s has been completely reworked.”
Putin, who frequently talks and writes about history while making "patriotic education" one of the defining features of his more than two decades of rule, is widely accused by critics in Russia and abroad of distorting the past.
The history text falsely claims that prior to Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, NATO advisers actively prepared Ukraine to “attack Donbas,” a reference to the areas of eastern Ukraine that have been under Russian occupation since 2014.
It also states that, if Ukraine were allowed to join NATO, it could have led to a destructive war and “possibly the end of the civilization,” leaving Russia no choice but to take preventive action.
The new textbook claims that the invasion of Ukraine is a “special military operation” and quotes Putin on February 24, 2022, the day he launched the move, as saying: “This is ultimately a question of life and death, the question of our historic future as a people."
Since launching the invasion, Russian authorities have taken the suppression of freedoms in the country to unprecedented levels.
Independent media outlets and human rights organizations are being shut down and noted opposition politicians and Kremlin critics have been jailed or have had to flee the country.
Meanwhile hundreds of Russians have been detained for voicing any kind of dissent over the move to invade neighboring Ukraine.
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