The Federation Council’s Committee on Science, Education and Culture has asked Sergei Naryshkin — head of the Russian Historical Society and Russia’s foreign intelligence service (SVR) — to review Russia's school history textbooks for compliance with historical and cultural standards, according to a report by the state-controlled news agency TASS.
“The committee insists on updating the list of textbooks on humanities disciplines, filling them with vivid and emotional examples of genuine service to the fatherland, courage and heroism shown in the defense of the motherland,” deputy chairman of the committee Ekaterina Altabayeva stated.
In her opinion, the current situation requires a special attitude to the contents of history, Russian language, literature, and social studies textbooks. “Today it is one of the aspects of the country’s national security,” Altabaeva says.
She said the committee had already received a response from the Ministry of Education, but called it “unsatisfactory.”
In late April, the independent Russian outlet Mediazona wrote that the Prosveshchenie publishing house had been removing “incorrect” references to Ukraine and Kyiv from all school textbooks. This work began immediately after the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine on February 24. “That is, we face the task of making it look as if Ukraine simply does not exist,” one of the textbook editors told the publication.
It was earlier reported that Russian schools will teach history starting from the first grade.
