How does the Russian “patriotic education” program that aims to create the next generation of Putin faithful

As Russia shifts the focus of its “special military operation” in Ukraine to the Donbas region, there seems to be no end in sight to the fighting. Casualties on both sides are increasing. While Ukraine can ask its citizens to help defend their homeland from Russian aggression, Moscow's ability to gather and maintain support among ordinary Russians will be crucial to maintaining its military effort.

The Kremlin believes that children and young people are a vital part of this effort. The government has launched a series of patriotic education campaigns aimed at young Russians to encourage them to consider the war in Ukraine as a continuation of the Second World War and to feel a personal connection with the Russian soldiers fighting there.

Targeting propaganda to young people is not new in Russia. When the Bolsheviks seized power in 1917, they introduced military-patriotic education to prepare the next generation for war. During the Brezhnev period, from 1964 to 1982, the focus was on the Soviet Union's victory over the Nazis in what Russia continues to call the “great patriotic war”.

Soviet patriotic-military education had a strong psychological dimension during the cold war. Heroic stories of self-sacrifice during the Great Patriotic War were used to develop children's devotion to the homeland. Whether through activities in youth groups or in more formal educational settings, a clear message was sent to young people: they had a responsibility to preserve the memory of the victory that their parents and grandparents had won.

Since the collapse of the USSR, the memory of the Great Patriotic War has become even more important for education in Russia. Not only have young people been tasked with preserving the state version of history, but they are also expected to be vigilant and denounce the efforts of others to “falsify” and “diminish” Russia's historical role in the world.

The memory of the Great Patriotic War is also essential for Moscow to justify its war in Ukraine before Russian society. The baseless claim that Russia was forced to intervene to combat growing Nazi sentiment in Ukraine is being woven into messages addressed to young Russians.

One aspect of this campaign was the launch of the initiative “strength is in the truth”. The opening ceremony in Moscow was attended by schoolchildren from regions all over Russia, including members of the national movement of the Young Army created in 2015. Speaking at the ceremony, the Minister of Education of Russia, Sergey Kravtsov, said that a situation like that in Ukraine will not happen again, because “we have wonderful young people... because they believe in Russia, in our country, in our teachers, in our victories, and they are right! Thank you, guys, for your position, for talking directly about this and not distorting history.”

Another aspect of this campaign is the use of Holocaust memory to bring Nazi atrocities to the forefront of youth consciousness and to establish connections with the war in Ukraine. On April 19, the Moscow Victory Museum opened an exhibition entitled Ordinary Nazism. The exhibition highlights “the atrocities of Ukrainian nationalists during the Second World War, as well as the mass crimes and terror of modern neo-Nazis against the inhabitants of Ukraine in 2014-2022″.

On the same day, the Day of United Action was also celebrated in Russia in remembrance of the genocide of the Soviet people initiated in Russia by the Nazis and their accomplices. The event included concerts, exhibitions, rallies and performances in schools and universities across Russia.

Generation “Z”

In schools all over Russia, teachers try to find age-appropriate ways of children and young people to relate them to soldiers fighting in Ukraine. The little ones are given simple tasks, such as drawing and coloring drawings from the “Z” ribbon or getting into shape to make the shape of that letter. The letter “Z” (not Cyrillic) has become a symbol of the offensive and a kind of badge for those who support it.

Older children write letters to soldiers serving in Ukraine, especially those who are from their towns or regions, and make care packages to send to them. At present, schools are provided with desks with [images and biographical data] of distinguished soldiers enrolled in them, which is a vivid reminder of the proud history of Russian military heroism to which young people are invited to join.

These efforts to convey carefully crafted messages about the offensive in Ukraine to children and young people serve several purposes. There are short-term benefits, such as encouraging a positive attitude towards military service among older adolescents who will be eligible for recruitment in the near future. Given the number of Russian soldiers killed in combat so far in this conflict, recruitment will remain a crucial part of the war effort.

The work of reaching young people with these messages also makes more Russian adults complicit in supporting the Kremlin narrative. Some teachers may really support the offensive, but for many it will be another way of showing their bosses that they do their jobs well, and perhaps to show the State that they are loyal citizens. The consequences for those who refuse can be serious: there is evidence of students who denounce their teachers for making unfair comments.

In the longer term, patriotic education aims to establish a deep and lasting sense of patriotism, duty and love for the homeland among the next generation of Russian citizens, along with great respect for the army as an institution. The key to this is the systematic presentation of Russian history to new youth groups, while being separated from opposing worldviews. The creation of future generations that can be easily shaped to believe in the Kremlin's messages and fulfill their agendas is an important feature of Putin's toy soldiers.

*Jennifer Mathers is Senior Lecturer in International Politics, University of Aberystwyth; and Allyson Edwards is Professor of History, University of Warwick

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