This year, Russian students will study history from a new textbook, which praises the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
The "special military operation", as the Kremlin calls it, is increasingly presented to young Russians as part of Moscow's historic mission, according to "The Guardian".
Presenting a new book intended for the 11th grade - seventeen-year-olds - at a press conference in Moscow, Russian Minister of Education Sergey Kravtsov said that the material is aimed at "conveying the goals (of the Ukrainian offensive) to students", which, as he said, are "demilitarization and denazification". These are the goals that President Vladimir Putin outlined when he sent troops to Ukraine last February.
The textbook covers the period from 1945 to the 21st century, and Kravtsov said that it will be "in all schools on September 1".
The book was written in "a little less than five months", Kravtsov said. "After the end of the special military operation (in Ukraine), after our victory, we will complete this book".
"We completely redid the '70s', '80s', '90s' and '2000s' sections. Added a new section from 2014 to the present, including a special military operation," said an adviser to the president Vladimir Medinsky
The "Guardian" reported that the textbook contains parts about Russian soldiers who "save the peace" in 2014, when Moscow annexed the Crimean peninsula from Ukraine, which has been repeatedly labeled as a "Nazi state". He also condemns Western sanctions, describing them as worse than Napoleon, who invaded Russia in 1812.
The new history textbook also states that the West's "main goal" is to "destabilize the situation inside Russia," and portrays Moscow as a victim of Western aggression fighting for its very existence.
When describing the origins of the war in Ukraine, the book quotes Putin, who has repeatedly said that the invasion was launched to "end the fighting started by the West". The history textbook also describes Ukraine as an "artificial state", repeating Putin's long essay "On the historical unity of Russians and Ukrainians", which says that Russia was robbed when Ukraine gained independence in 1991.
Advisor to the president, Vladimir Medinski, known for his conservative view of history, praised the quick preparation of the textbook. "In our country, no textbook has ever been created in such a short time. The authors wrote it practically with their own hand". He added that the textbook represents "the point of view of the state".
“We've completely redone the '70s', '80s', '90s' and '2000s' sections. A new section was added from 2014 to the present, including a special military operation," said Medinski.
Alexei, a former history teacher at an elite school outside Moscow who quit last April after falling out with the administration over a new "patriotic" curriculum, described the new history textbooks as "complete fiction."
"They haunt both the past and the present," Aleksey, who wished to remain anonymous, told The Guardian.
“I worry about the children who will be raised by lies.
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