"Loyal Follower Generation Cultivation"... Russia Accelerates 'Militaristic Education'

Forced Patriotic Lessons and Textbook Censorship
"Unlike the Anti-War Youth, the Younger Generation Is Intended to Be Raised as Loyal Followers"

President Vladimir Putin of Russia [Photo by Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Intern Reporter Kim Nayeon] The Russian government is intensifying militaristic education by forcing 'patriotic' classes nationwide and censoring textbook content.

According to the American daily The Washington Post (WP) on the 11th (local time), the Russian Federation Council urged on the 9th that Sergey Naryshkin, head of the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR), oversee the revision of textbooks instead of the Ministry of Education.

The reason is that education is a 'national security' issue, and given the current situation where confrontation with the West has intensified following the invasion of Ukraine, a special stance regarding education is necessary.

At frontline schools, classes are already repeating the Russian government's claim that "the special military operation was launched to liberate eastern Ukraine from neo-Nazi forces."

Russia's leading textbook publisher, Prosveshchenie, is reported to have deleted most content related to Ukraine in the soon-to-be-published new textbooks.

In an interview with the anti-government local media Mediazona, one editor said, "We were literally tasked with making it appear as if Ukraine does not exist."

Since 2013, President Vladimir Putin has focused on history education with the aim of establishing Russia's national identity based on the history of the former Soviet Union, which participated as an ally in World War II and defeated the German Nazi regime's invasion of Europe.

Amid this, as the Russian military struggles in the Ukraine war and domestic public opinion shows signs of worsening, intervention in education is being strengthened.

There have been repeated student protests in educational settings. WP diagnosed that unlike the millennial generation in their 20s and 30s, who tend to oppose the Putin regime and the war, the new generation is being raised as loyal followers of the current regime.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.