Russian education minister says West waging ‘information war’ against Russia’s new school history textbook

During a meeting with history teachers at the Herzen State Pedagogical University, Russian Education Minister Sergey Kravtsov said Western intelligence agencies had launched an “information war” against Russia’s new general history textbook for school students.

Kravtsov said those who attacked the textbook don’t want the Russian education system to be “sovereign” or for history textbooks to include today’s “objective facts.” “They want to take us back, but it won’t work” added the education minister, without specifying where.

Kravtsov noted that the textbook will continue to be improved based on feedback from teachers, but, according to him, the textbook’s foundation is already in place. He said this “attack” shows Russia is already winning the information war, with society and teachers “supporting” the textbook.

Starting from September 1, 2023, Russian high school students began studying general and Russian history from new textbooks. The chapters on history from the 1970s to the 2000s have been completely rewritten, while a new chapter has been added to cover events from 2014 to the present, including the “special military operation” in Ukraine.

In late September, the new history textbook faced criticism from public figures and politicians in the North Caucasus region, including Chechnya, due to a passage about Stalin’s deportations of ethnic minorities. After the backlash, the Russian Education Ministry rewrote this section. In November, Sergey Kravtsov personally presented the revised textbook to Head of Chechnya Ramzan Kadyrov.