Paul Goble
Staunton, Mar. 3 – Given the viciousness of Russian state propaganda about Ukraine, it is no surprise that this would gradually affect the educational system in that country as well; but if the Kremlin’s mouthpieces can and do change on a dime as his positions evolve, the views Russian school children are taught are likely to cast a far larger shadow on the future.
Today, the Russian education ministry has issued a slide show for children in the last three classes of schools there to encourage them to hate Ukraine and to support Russia’s “mission of liberation” there, one intended to protect ethnic Russians, fight Nazism, and prevent the expansion of NATO (idelreal.org/a/31733626.html).
The slide show repeats the memes of Vladimir Putin’s speeches but also tells the pupils that the Russian president, albeit the most reliable source of information about what is going on, can’t speak all the time and that they must learn to use only those media outlets that reflect the truth, namely those of the Russian government. All others are suspect.
In addition to all the lies about Ukraine and the West the slide show contains, it concludes with a call for young Russians to read and absorb four critical articles: Putin’s “On the historical unity of Russians and Ukrainians” and three from the government’s History of Russia portal, histrf.ru/.
These include “The Ancient Russian State,” “We have not forgiven. On the anniversary of the liquidation of the USSR,” and “An Operetta which is repeated as a Circus.” The tone of these can easily be imagined by the fact that Dmitry Lekukh, a former radical Spartak fans leader who is now a columnist for Novosti and Russia Today.
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