Schoolkids in Russia and occupied Ukraine forced to ‘celebrate’ Russian annexation as ‘reunification’

Russian schools have received instructions on ‘celebrating’ what Moscow is claiming was the ‘reunification’ of four entire parts of Ukraine, including territory which Russia does not control.  The narrative proposed is eerily reminiscent of arguments used by the Nazis about ‘historical territory’, while the suggested ‘welcome home’ drawings are presumably not supposed to include Russian soldiers, tanks and ballistic missiles.

In September 2022, Russia staged a fake referendum in then-occupied parts of Donetsk; Luhansk; Kherson and Zaporizhzhia oblasts.  The event took place literally at gunpoint, with so-called ‘electoral commissions’ accompanied by armed Russian soldiers going door to door, and standing nearby as people ‘voted’.  Although this grotesque farce was taking place in many cities that Russia had invaded, in many cases, also mercilessly bombing, Moscow claimed virtually total support for ‘joining the Russian Federation.  On 5 October 2022, Russian leader Vladimir Putin signed the relevant decree on such internationally condemned and unrecognized annexation of still further Ukrainian territory (after its annexation of Crimea in 2014). 

Ukraine’s Armed Forces liberated Kherson on 11 November 2022, with the euphoric greeting they received from the population giving the lie to Russia’s claim of near universal support.  Despite this, and the fact that other parts of Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia oblasts are not under Russian occupation, Russia is claiming all parts of the four oblasts to be its so-called ‘new regions’.

It is the second anniversary of this ‘reunification’ at gunpoint that Moscow ordered schools to ‘celebrate’ over the last week.  The independent Russian Agentsvo reports that teachers in various educational institutions were ordered by 30 September 2024 to get their students to draw pictures or to make some kind of videoed ‘greetings’.  They add that by Friday, almost 800 reports and around 200 videos had been posted on the Russian VKontakte social network.

The ‘instructions’ received suggested four alternatives, with their authenticity confirmed by a source in a Siberian school.  The first proposed a ‘master-class’ entitled “Welcome home”, during which the children were supposed to draw a picture in support of what Russia claims to be its “historical territory”.

No. 2 was entitled “Return of history”, with students here playing a boardgame purportedly aimed at ‘updating’ their knowledge of Russia’s presentation of the historical events of the annexed territory.  Agenstvo points out that the crip mentions ‘referendum’ and ‘eight years’, with the latter presumably referring to the beginning of Russia’s military aggression in Donbas, and the appearance of the Russian proxy ‘Donetsk and Luhansk people’s republics’ [‘D-LPR’].

Students could also produce a ‘virtual exhibition’, supposed to be about the cultural heritage of the ‘historical heritage’, seemingly under the heading ‘One country – Russia’.  Although a US educational tool (Sutori) is mentioned, this seems to hearken back to Soviet times, when ‘Ukrainian culture’ was largely represented through folkdance ensembles and the like.

‘Strength in unity’.  Here students are supposed to make a video with greetings and words of support to annexed parts of Ukraine (described as “historical regions”).  The crib here repeats the key lies in Kremlin narrative, about ‘reunification’; ‘national unity’ and supposed ‘free choice’ of citizens.

The instructions stated that students should “understand the importance of retaining historical borders” [sic!] and the “importance of the historical step of the reunification of DPR, LPR, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia oblasts with Russia”, as well as commitment to what are labelled “traditional spiritual-moral values of the Russian Federation”.

The mandatory propaganda lesson (the so-called ‘conversations about important things’) on 30 September was supposed to be devoted to the ‘day of the teacher’.  Instead, however, teachers were instructed to provide an account of Russia’s annexation of Ukrainian territory with this presented as being “reinstatement of historical justice”.

Those in the West, including presidential candidate Donald Trump, who claim that Russia will restrain its territorial aggrandizement if Ukraine capitulates over territory currently occupied, would do well to scrutinize Russia’s revised ‘constitution’ and its school curriculum.  Neither makes any distinction between parts of Donetsk; Kherson and Zaporizhzhia oblasts that are now occupied and those that are not.  Putin has, in fact, openly acknowledged that Russia will not stop, even temporarily, without all parts of this territory being under its control.    

Russia is attempting to push this false narrative on all parts of Ukraine currently under its occupation.  In Crimea and those parts of Donbas that have been occupied since 2014, the mechanisms of propaganda and indoctrination were already intrenched. At least in Kherson and Zaporizhzhia oblasts, it is clearly having more difficulty. As reported back in May 2024, additional ‘history lessons’ are being introduced in occupied territory to inculcate ‘the right’, as is the distorted, version of Ukrainian and Russian history.