LONDON --
Days after Russia’s Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine, Andrei Shestakov opened a set of information in a WhatsApp group chat for historical past lecturers like himself in his city in east Russia.
The information -- which Reuters reviewed and include dozens of pages of paperwork and displays in addition to video hyperlinks -- are directions on how you can educate teenage college kids in regards to the battle. It’s unclear who shared the information to the group chat, however lots of the paperwork carry the crest of the training ministry in Moscow.
The fabric contains lesson guides stating that Russian troopers preventing in Ukraine had been heroes, that Ukraine's rulers made widespread trigger with individuals who collaborated with World Conflict Two Nazis, that the West was making an attempt to unfold discord in Russian society, and that Russians should stick collectively.
Shestakov mentioned he leafed by means of the information throughout certainly one of his classes. The slim-built 38-year-old mentioned that earlier than changing into a trainer in January he had spent 16 years as a police officer.
However he had rising doubts lately, he mentioned, about whether or not Russia's rulers had been dwelling as much as the values they professed about democracy, influenced partly by outstanding Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny.
He determined to not educate the modules to his pupils on the Gymnasium No. 2 college the place he labored in Neryungri, a coal-mining city in japanese Siberia, some 6,700 kilometres (4,160 miles) east of Moscow.
As an alternative, Shestakov advised his pupils in regards to the contents of the educating information and why they had been traditionally inaccurate, he advised Reuters. As an example, he mentioned he defined that the supplies claimed Ukraine was an invention of Bolshevik communist Russia but historical past textbooks mentioned Ukrainian historical past going again centuries.
He went additional. On March 1, he advised pupils throughout a civics class he wouldn't advise them to serve within the Russian military, that he opposed the struggle towards Ukraine, and that Russia's leaders exhibited parts of fascism even whereas saying they had been preventing fascism in Ukraine, in line with a signed assertion taken by police and reviewed by Reuters.
Within the following days, the native police and the Federal Safety Service, often called the FSB, summoned Shestakov for questioning, in line with the March 5 signed assertion about his classroom feedback. He mentioned he has not been charged in relation to these feedback. The FSB and native police didn’t reply to requests for remark.
A court docket did fantastic him 35,000 roubles (about US$420) on March 18 for discrediting the Russian armed forces after he re-posted movies on-line of interviews with Russian troopers captured in Ukraine, in line with a court docket ruling seen by Reuters.
He mentioned he give up his job final month as a result of he believed he can be fired anyway for his public opposition to the struggle, he advised Reuters. The native training authority and the training ministry didn’t reply to requests for touch upon Shestakov and the educating information. When Reuters reached the college by cellphone, a girl who recognized herself as performing head trainer mentioned she declined to touch upon Shestakov’s case and ended the decision.
Academics throughout Russia have obtained the identical or comparable educating guides, in line with two trainer's union officers, two different lecturers and social media posts from two faculties reporting that they had taught the modules.
Olga Miryasova, an official with a commerce union referred to as Instructor, mentioned regional training authorities circulated the educating information Shestakov obtained to a number of faculties across the nation. Reuters was unable to find out independently what number of faculties obtained the modules. One of many lecturers mentioned they obtained a special educating pack from the one Shestakov did, although it contained comparable content material.
The initiative reveals how the Russian state -- which has been intensifying its grip on the mainstream media -- is now extending its propaganda effort in regards to the Ukraine struggle into faculties because the Kremlin seeks to shore up help. Because the struggle began, many Russian faculties have posted photos on social media displaying pupils sending messages of help to troops preventing in Ukraine and standing in formation to spell out the letter "Z," a logo of help for the struggle in Russia.
Academics who disagree with the struggle are actually becoming a member of the ranks of opposition activists, non-governmental group campaigners, and impartial journalists in feeling the strain of the Russian state, with fines, prosecutions, and the prospect of forfeiting their jobs. President Vladimir Putin in early March signed into regulation laws that makes the unfold of “pretend” details about the Russian armed forces, an offense punishable with fines or jail phrases of as much as 15 years.
Even earlier than the invasion, the Kremlin had been tightening the screws on its opponents utilizing a mixture of arrests, web censorship and blacklists.
The Kremlin didn’t reply to requests for remark about its dealing with of opposition to the struggle, the educating information and Shestakov's case.
Russia’s Training Minister Sergei Kravtsov advised a parliamentary committee in March that his ministry had launched a nationwide drive to debate Russian-Ukrainian relations with pupils, amid questions from kids in regards to the scenario in Ukraine and sanctions.
The Kremlin has mentioned it's implementing legal guidelines to thwart extremism and threats to stability. It says it's conducting what it calls a "particular operation" to destroy its southern neighbour’s army capabilities and "denazify" Ukraine and forestall genocide towards Russian audio system, particularly within the east of the nation. Kyiv and its western allies have dismissed this as a baseless pretext for struggle, and accuse Russian forces of killing civilians.
WEST’S 'HYBRID WARFARE'
The educating information that Shestakov obtained says it's geared toward pupils aged between 14 and 18 years. It contains detailed lesson plans for lecturers, hyperlinks to movies of speeches by President Putin and quick movies for example the teachings.
In accordance with the educating supplies, the West is waging data warfare to attempt to flip public opinion towards Russia’s rulers, and that each one Russian individuals want to face agency towards that.
One lesson plan explains Russia was preventing a cultural struggle towards the West which had destroyed "the institute of the standard household" and was now making an attempt to foist its values on Russia.
It says that for the reason that collapse of the Soviet Union, Ukraine had carried out an anti-Russian coverage. "There have been assaults on the Russian language, our widespread historical past was falsified, struggle criminals and prison teams from World Conflict Two had been become heroes," in line with the doc, which refers to Ukrainian nationalists who made an alliance with Germany throughout that struggle.
One other lesson says that the West is deploying "hybrid warfare" -- a mix of propaganda, financial sanctions, and army strain -- to attempt to defeat Russia by fomenting inner battle. “That's exactly why they urge us to attend unsanctioned demonstrations, they incite us to interrupt the regulation, and attempt to scare us," it reads.
"We should not succumb to provocation," the doc says.
The modules embody a recreation the place pupils have 15 seconds to determine if a press release is true or false. One assertion reads: "The group of protests, provocations of the authorities and mass gatherings are an efficient means of resolving a hybrid battle." In accordance with the lesson information, the right reply is "false."
Reuters discovered social media posts from a faculty in Samara, on the Volga river, and a faculty in Minusinsk, southern Siberia, displaying slides from the identical displays getting used.
Danil Plotnikov, a math trainer in Chelyabinsk, the Ural mountains, advised Reuters he had been requested by his bosses to show comparable content material however from a special educating pack than the one Shestakov obtained; Plotnikov didn’t determine who the bosses had been. Tatyana Chernenko, a math trainer in Moscow, mentioned colleagues in different faculties advised her that they had been requested to show comparable modules however that they had not been taught in her college.
The lecturers Reuters spoke to mentioned that some areas and faculties pushed the teachings tougher than others. Not one of the 5 lecturers mentioned that they had heard of circumstances the place lecturers had been explicitly ordered to show the modules. They mentioned it was normally framed as a request, or a suggestion by a faculty or regional training authorities.
Some had mentioned no, and confronted no consequence, mentioned Daniil Ken, chair of an impartial lecturers' commerce union referred to as Academics' Alliance. Others didn't educate the teachings however advised bosses that they had, mentioned Ken. He added refusing was a threat, with lecturers not realizing if their head lecturers would strain them to give up.
Ken mentioned his union has heard from about half a dozen lecturers per week who say they're quitting as a result of they didn’t wish to promote the Kremlin's line -- one thing Reuters wasn’t capable of independently confirm.
POLITICAL AWAKENING
Shestakov wears his hair shut cropped and practices sambo, a martial artwork developed within the Soviet military. He mentioned his profession within the police included a one-year stint within the inside ministry particular forces, an arm of regulation enforcement whose officers are actually preventing in Ukraine. The inside ministry didn’t reply to a request for remark.
By 2018, when he was a group officer working with juvenile offenders, he had a political awakening, in line with Shestakov. He mentioned he began watching movies put out by Navalny, the opposition determine who's now in a Russian jail, alleging corruption by Kremlin leaders.
"I turned an actual opposition individual," Shestakov mentioned.
He mentioned when the struggle in Ukraine began, the pictures of casualties disturbed him and he spent hours watching movies of the preventing on social media.
Underneath a pseudonym, he re-posted the movies of interviews with Russian troopers captured in Ukraine to the feedback part of a neighborhood media outlet that has about 5,200 subscribers, in line with Shestakov and the March 18 court docket ruling seen by Reuters.
The court docket mentioned his actions had been a violation of a regulation forbidding the discrediting of the Russian armed forces.
Shestakov mentioned he suspects the FSB has in current weeks been eavesdropping on his cellphone conversations, although he didn't have proof of that. He additionally mentioned that he has seen individuals he acknowledges as undercover FSB officers thrice in current days. The FSB didn’t reply to requests for touch upon whether or not it's monitoring him.
Now, Shestakov plans to depart Russia as a result of he says he fears additional penalties from authorities. He would be part of tens of hundreds of Kremlin opponents who've additionally fled the nation since Putin started cracking down laborious on opposition in 2018.
He mentioned he deliberate to go to Turkey, until the authorities bar him from leaving the nation.
Staying and dropping his public opposition to the struggle was not an possibility for him, Shestakov mentioned. "It will likely be laborious for me to maintain my mouth shut," he mentioned.
(Modifying by Christian Lowe and Cassell Bryan-Low)
Post a Comment