The organization Amnesty International (AI) has denounced this Monday the "state indoctrination" to which children are subjected daily in educational centers throughout the country, warning that schools have been transformed into "factories of submission" where minors are subjected to strict surveillance.
According to the NGO, in a statement, "Russian authorities deny children the right to quality education by using classes and textbooks loaded with propaganda to indoctrinate them and justify Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine, while repressing freedom of expression, independent thought, and access to information."
In its new report 'Only Official Sources: Indoctrination in the Russian Education System', the entity documents how students throughout Russia and in the occupied areas of Ukraine are exposed "to state ideology through a curriculum controlled by the central government."
The document also describes that teachers receive instructions to monitor students' internet activity, compile records of their opinions, and alert authorities about possible critical or dissident stances on political and social issues.
Marie Struthers, Director for Eastern Europe and Central Asia at Amnesty International, has stressed that "Russian schools have ceased to be temples of knowledge to become factories of submission. The Russian state determines what children should learn about Russia, its neighbors, and the rest of the world. While using schools for political propaganda is not exclusive to Russia, the intensity and scale of the Kremlin's initiatives to place indoctrination at the heart of the education system make them systemic."
In this regard, she criticized that "Russian textbooks present a single view of history that justifies any decision made in Moscow to use force against its neighbors. They describe Russia's ongoing aggression against Ukraine as a historical necessity and a matter of national survival, while any alternative opinion is branded as 'hostile' or 'destructive'."
Single textbooks and official narrative
Since 2023, the Russian Ministry of Education has imposed a single mandatory package of History textbooks and other teaching resources that present Russia as a "besieged fortress," minimize or deny Ukraine's national identity and statehood, and legitimize all Soviet and Russian military interventions as inevitable or justified.
The report emphasizes that "education designed to deprive children of the opportunity to form their own opinions and learn to think critically and independently in their formative years is incompatible with human rights laws and standards. Russia's approach violates its obligations under several international human rights treaties, including the Convention on the Rights of the Child."
The Kremlin's efforts to shape an "obedient and unconditional" student population are supported by coercion, surveillance, and profiling, according to AI. Struthers details that "Russian authorities are taking prophylactic measures that involve not only the dissemination of propaganda but also clandestine and constant surveillance of students inside and outside the classroom, including on the Internet," and that in practice these guidelines "encourage the control of children's political, religious, and personal ideas."
Amnesty regrets that educational institutions are required to "identify students and staff members whose opinions, online activities, and associations express disloyalty or susceptibility to destructive influences." Among the groups singled out are the Anti-Corruption Foundation of the late Alexei Navalny, the youth protest movement Vesna, and the non-existent "international LGTBI movement," all of whom are persecuted solely for "speaking out in favor of Human Rights," according to the organization.
Struthers argues that "Russian authorities have shown no limits in what they are capable of doing to impose their deeply politicized ideological narrative on the next generation, and to ensure that those who do not adhere to that narrative are identified and punished. This constitutes a violation of children's right to privacy and freedom of expression and association."
In this regard, he has emphasized that "a child's mind is not the property of the State." "However, Russian authorities seem to treat classrooms as sowing ground to be inspected for the first sprouts of civic dissent so they can be uprooted before they grow," he added.
Demands from Amnesty and the Talankin case
In view of this situation, Amnesty International calls on the Russian authorities to guarantee that the curriculum, textbooks, and other educational materials do not limit or hinder freedom of expression or the free exchange of ideas. The NGO insists that "students and teachers must have access to a wide diversity of sources and be able to freely debate historical and current events without fear of reprisal."
It also demands that "authorities must annul all laws and regulations that punish peaceful expression or exclude dissenting voices from education, immediately cease illicit surveillance activities and profiling of students and educators, destroy all illegally collected data, provide effective remedies and reparations to those affected, and hold accountable those who have committed human rights violations."
The report also recalls that, at the end of March, Pavel Talankin, a Russian director awarded an Oscar in the "best documentary feature" category for 'Mr Nobody vs. Putin', was added to Russia's list of foreign agents, accused of producing content for "undesirable organizations" and "disseminating false information about decisions and policies adopted" in Russian territory.
The film, made with American David, also won a British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) award. The documentary incorporates footage filmed by Talankin before he left Russia in 2024, showing the development of certain classes in the country, with a marked component of propaganda linked to the war in Ukraine.