Russian schools hold extracurricular lesson and quiz game based on Tucker Carlson’s Putin interview
On March 11, schools and colleges throughout Russia began piloting an extracurricular program called “From Rus’ to Russia,” in which students are shown Vladimir Putin’s interview with American political commentator Tucker Carlson.
The initiative was first reported in the media by “Not the Norm,” a Telegram channel dedicated to gathering information about the Russian government’s pro-war propaganda in schools. According to the channel, after watching part of the Putin-Carlson interview, students take part in a competition that consists of answering questions about the reasons for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the Minsk agreements, U.S. sanctions, and related topics.
Meduza found reports about the new lessons on the websites of schools, lyceums, and colleges in the Chuvash Republic, Bashkortostan, Altai Krai, the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug, and the Moscow, Rostov, and Novosibirsk regions, among many others.
In some parts of the country, the program was only offered to high school students. In others, it was shown to students of all ages, from first grade to 11th grade.
A school in the village of Tatar-Ulkanovo in Bashkortostan
The questions included in the quiz portion of the program include:
- What is reunification?
- What unites the Russian and Ukrainian people?
- Which answer option could not be applied to the word “Ukrainian” in the 13th century?
The answer choices listed for the last question are “border guard,” “person living at the edge,” “resident of the borderland,” and “resident of the country of Ukraine.”
Students are also told to choose countries that have had “so-called ‘color revolutions’” from a list that includes Uzbekistan, Ukraine, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Latvia, and “Kirghizia,” which is Russia’s colonial and Soviet-era name for what is now the country of Kyrgyzstan.
Most schools’ online posts about the lessons end with the same phrase: “This was an interesting and informative activity. The students also held an enthusiastic discussion about what questions they would ask the president of our country, Mr. Vladimir Putin.”
A school in the Saratov region said its quiz lasted for 11 rounds and included questions about “various historical events, figures, and cultural phenomena connected to the formation of the state of Russia.” It continued: “Students could immediately determine whether their answers were correct using the video from the interview with the president and the American journalist.”