Russian textbook rewrites Ukraine war narrative
A new textbook for Russian students has introduced a chapter on the war in Ukraine. According to it, Vladimir Putin was "forced" to attack his neighbour. The author of the textbook is an advisor to the president of Russia.
Many pieces of information provided by Russian media or government representatives are elements of propaganda. Such reports are part of the information war conducted by the Russian Federation.
In Russia, a new history textbook was presented for elementary school students in grades 6-11. The author is Vladimir Medinsky, an advisor to President Vladimir Putin.
The textbook includes a chapter dedicated to the war with Ukraine. It suggests that Putin tolerated NATO's "expansion" eastward for a long time but ultimately "had to" start the war due to the Euromaidan and the overthrow of Viktor Yanukovych in 2014, which allegedly transformed Ukraine into an "aggressively anti-Russian" country.
"Other methods" of Putin
The new textbook aims to "clearly explain the forced nature of the special military operation" (as Russians call the invasion - ed.) and to explain its objectives, said Ivan Basik, head of the Research Institute of Military History of the General Staff's Military Academy.
He argues that "the West's reluctance to resolve problematic issues politically" and create security guarantees for Russia forced Putin into "other methods."
- The genocide of the Donbas population, non-compliance with the Minsk agreements, and the existing threat of nuclear and bacteriological weapon development could, in the future, have catastrophic consequences for all of Europe and the world. The special operation became inevitable - Basik argued in a propagandistic tone.
However, the textbook did not include a description of the Oreshnik missile tests, which Russia launched after lifting the ban on Ukrainians using American ATACMS systems. Historians assure that the textbook will be updated.
Putin's negotiator
At the beginning of the war, Vladimir Medinsky was the person conducting peace negotiations with Ukraine on behalf of Russia. He is a 52-year-old doctor of historical sciences who served as the Minister of Culture of the Russian Federation for eight years. He believed that a strong state and a sense of patriotism should be built on historical myths.
Medinsky is not only the author of textbooks and popular science books. He also wrote the historical novel "The Wall" (published in Poland as "The Smolensk Walls"), set in the times of the Time of Troubles and the Polish-Russian war. Critics pointed out that some characters speak words from Vladimir Putin's speeches.
Source: "The Moscow Times"
