- Russian schools are introducing programs promoting the military to encourage support for the Ukraine war.
- Russia asked students to knit socks for soldiers and write poems about military history, NYT reported.
As Russia enters its 16th month of war in Ukraine, it appears to be preparing for the long haul.
Across its 40,000 public schools, the Kremlin is now promoting programs and materials that celebrate Russia's military history — an apparent effort to indoctrinate its schoolchildren to support its invasion of Ukraine, The New York Times reported on Saturday.
Russia is now asking its students to knit socks for Russian soldiers, a seemingly antiquated effort that feels like a throwback to the Soviet era. Students are also writing poems celebrating Russian history and are now supposed to attend a morning assembly where students raise the Russian flag and sing the national anthem, The Times reported. They then spend an hour talking about Russia's military history.
While the directives are coming from the highest levels of government, the exact programs are mostly left up to individual school administrators, creating a vast diversity of efforts. One school used the role of a sniper to illustrate a math lesson, The Times reported.
The school programs first began when Russia annexed Crimea, a southern peninsula in the Black Sea, in 2014. But Russia has ramped up the efforts as its invasion of Ukraine drags on.
In January, Insider reviewed troves of Russian lesson materials posted online that were preparing children as young as 7 to be ready to die for their country. The overall message seemed to be that Russia was liberating the people of Ukraine.
With Russia stagnant on the battlefield, propaganda steps in
Russia first invaded eastern Ukraine in February 2022. It quickly took large swaths of the country's eastern territory.
But its advances have stalled more recently. Russian forces became bogged down in their effort to take the eastern city of Bakhmut. Ukraine made it a point to try and hold the city, pouring resources into the effort. Russia claimed victory over the city earlier this month, but at a steep cost to both sides.
Russia's military far outmatches Ukraine's. But much of the Russian military equipment is outdated, and soldiers have complained of equipment shortages. Russia has used decades-old tanks and soldiers have said they are relying on Soviet-era gear.
As setbacks mounted for Russia in Bakhmut, the notorious Wagner Group, a Russian mercenary organization, stepped into the fray. It recruited thousands of Russian prisoners, exchanging their freedom for fighting on the frontlines. The arrival of Wagner in Bakhmut created tensions among the various factions of Russian forces.
Russia is now bracing for an expected Ukrainian counteroffensive.
While its indoctrination program is reminiscent of Soviet-era policies, it is this time more muted, The Times reported.
Experts told the newspaper that this appears to be the result of lessons learned during the Soviet era when propaganda touting the success of Communism stood in stark contrast to the reality many Russians saw in their daily lives.
"They want enthusiasm, but they realize if they push too hard it could galvanize an organized opposition," Alexandra Arkhipova, a social anthropologist, told The Times. "They do not want people to protest."