‘Pulling children into the system’ The Kremlin is bringing its patriotic lesson series to Russia’s youngest students — kindergartners
The fall after the Kremlin launched its full-scale war against Ukraine, schools across Russia introduced a new state-designed “patriotic” lesson series called “Important Conversations.” Now, the program is expanding to some of the youngest members of society — kindergartners. Officials in the Vologda region are piloting the new initiative. At some of the first lessons, teachers dressed children in uniforms, gave them toy guns, pretended to bandage their arms, led a moment of silence, and played patriotic music. The independent Okno project learned what’s happening in these lessons, how they made their way into kindergartens, and how parents feel about them. Meduza shares an abridged English-language version of the story.
Viktor’s five-year-old son attends a kindergarten in Vologda, Russia.
“The first day they had these ‘Important Conversations’ sessions, my son told me on the way home that they had ‘hug day,’ ‘penguin day,’ and that they also talked about war — that it’s scary, that there’s a war happening now, but ‘heroes are protecting us.’ That was all he said. He always sums up new things in just a few words,” Viktor says.
“Personally, I think bringing ‘Important Conversations’ into kindergartens is unnecessary,” Viktor adds. “Five-year-olds aren’t ready for serious topics, and they already learn the everyday ‘important things.’ What bothers me is that for six months, every week, they’ll be covering the same subject — like it’s a history department, not a kindergarten.”
The family is still deciding how to respond. “For now, my son treats this information like anything else — he forgets it in five minutes. So we haven’t decided whether he’ll attend these sessions at all. As far as I know, even in school, there are legal ways to opt out. In kindergarten, it’s even simpler — if you don’t show up, you don’t show up,” Viktor notes.
In October 2024, President Vladimir Putin met with Russian educators, including Nadezhda Vorontsova, a kindergarten teacher from Vologda and a finalist in the “Teacher of the Year” competition. It was Vorontsova who suggested expanding “Important Conversations” to kindergarten. Putin supported the idea.
Vorontsova has now been appointed to lead the project in Vologda. At the kindergarten where she works, the first session, called “What Do I Know About the War?” took place on January 20. According to the kindergarten’s social media page, the goal was to “instill a sense of moral appreciation for our country’s heroic past by exploring how older preschoolers understand the Great Patriotic War [World War II].”
Vologda officials have timed the project to coincide with what the Russian government has dubbed the ‘Year of the Defender of the Fatherland’ and the 80th anniversary of Victory Day — when Russia celebrates the anniversary of the Soviet victory in World War II. For now, the program is set to run until May 19. Lessons will take the form of “discussions, role-playing games, quizzes, interviews, and rapid-fire Q&A sessions.” Children will learn about World War II heroes, military professions, hero cities, war memorials, and medals. Kindergartens will also set up patriotic displays.
Public reaction on social media has been mixed. Some see no issue with introducing “Important Conversations” in kindergartens. “They just explained what the Great Patriotic War was, showed the kids military uniforms, played Red Army Choir music… Where’s the politics in that? What’s so bad about it?”
Others argue that children should have more “practical” lessons. “Forget these classes. Bring back aviation, auto, and ship modeling clubs, go-kart racing, motocross, DOSAAF [a Soviet-era organization for youth military and technical training]. That would actually be useful — unlike these pointless lessons.”
Some took a more sarcastic tone. “Why stop there? Just hand out headphones in maternity wards and tune them to the right frequency so the necessary information is transmitted to the fetus in the womb.”
Others criticized local officials. “The whole region is suffering. They put a shameless careerist and populist in charge as governor, someone desperate to get promoted who will do whatever it takes to get noticed. No respect for the people. He’ll sign off on any experiment.”
‘This isn’t going anywhere’
Officially, Russia’s Education Ministry is still considering whether to expand its patriotism program to kindergartens, with final recommendations set to be presented to Putin on March 1. But in many regions, local officials aren’t waiting — kindergartens have already begun holding their own “Important Conversations” sessions on the initiative of regional administrations.
“Vologda is far from an isolated case. We’ve seen a huge number of similar lessons in other regions — Murmansk, Rostov, Kaliningrad. They’ve really ramped up since the start of 2025, and the format closely mirrors what’s happening in schools, with the same level of militarization. Soldiers who fought in Ukraine come in to talk about the war. Right now, the main topic is the Siege of Leningrad. The materials are taken straight from school curricula, with little to no adaptation for kindergarteners,” says Dmitry Tsibirev, founder NeNorma, a project dedicated to fighting propaganda in schools.
Former Vologda regional legislator-turned-political exile Yevgeny Domozhirov believes this push is directly tied to Governor Georgy Filimonov.
“He plays the role of a hardline Russian patriot, actively supports the ‘special military operation,’ and is working to expand state influence over education. He’s aggressively pushing these ideas of Russian fascism, championed by figures like [far-right philosopher and ideologue Alexander] Dugin and [ultranationalist writer Alexander] Prokhanov, along with the Izborsk and Valdai clubs. He’s a member of [the informal conservative think tank] Izborsk Club himself. And as for that kindergarten teacher — we all understand that no one ends up in Putin’s orbit by accident. This is clearly a coordinated effort between the presidential administration and Vologda’s regional government.”
Filimonov, formerly a deputy governor in Moscow’s regional government, was appointed acting governor of Vologda on October 31, 2023, and won the election a year later with 62.3 percent of the vote. According to media reports, he’s a friend of Katerina Tikhonova, Putin’s daughter, and her ex-husband, billionaire Kirill Shamalov. His father, Yuri Filimonov, was a city council member in Cherepovets and a decorated kickboxing coach who trained alongside Sergey Kiriyenko, now the head of the Kremlin’s domestic policy team.
Six months ago, Filimonov gave social media followers a glimpse of his office. Alongside the obligatory portrait of Putin, his walls feature paintings Joseph Stalin, Soviet secret police chiefs Felix Dzerzhinsky and Lavrentiy Beria, and Mao Zedong. One painting, a picture of which he posted separately, shows Stalin shaking his hand. “Conceptual,” Filimonov captioned it.
Just a month ago, a statue of Stalin was erected in Vologda at the initiative of the governor. Locals launched a petition in protest, but their objections were ignored. The regional administration stated that authorities weren’t required to seek public approval for installing the monument.
Domozhirov says that with a governor like this, it wouldn’t be surprising if Vologda’s kindergartens start showing children propaganda films about Lenin and Stalin.
“Right now, from the photos and videos coming out of these kindergartens, we’re already seeing them set up so-called ‘red corners’ — though I’d call them brown and green. Kids are being drilled from an early age with the idea that dying for the motherland is the highest honor. Parents have little say in the matter — once they send their children off to kindergarten, they’re handing them over to the state to be raised. And right now, that state is a fascist dictatorship, and it’s pulling children into the system," Domozhirov says.
Dmitry Tsibirev believes it’s only a matter of time before the experiment spreads to other regions — and that it won’t end when the war does.
“This is already embedded in the education system; it’s deeply rooted now. And let’s be honest — something has to be done with all these so-called ‘heroes of the special military operation.’ They’re literally on the payroll of various government-backed organizations,” he says. “This isn’t going anywhere. Even if there’s a ceasefire and the active fighting stops, it will likely be a temporary solution. The recruitment efforts in schools will continue.”
‘Priests instead of school psychologists’
The “Important Conversations” program was introduced in Russian schools on September 1, 2022. Two and a half years later, a survey by the state-run polling agency VTsIOM found that parents ranked it among the most useless subjects in school.
“At this point, it all depends on the teacher, as far as I can tell. Some take it very seriously. But there are reasonable ones too. Two years ago, we moved from St. Petersburg to [a town] in the [Leningrad] region, and my son switched to a new school. He’s in fourth grade now, and his teacher is great — she made it clear from the start that she wouldn’t be pushing any propaganda, politics, or military stuff. No making camouflage nets or anything like that; she replaces those activities with something else. If the topic is controversial, she just talks about something else instead. I always ask my son what they discussed, and so far, nothing concerning has come up,” says Maria.
Still, she prefers to be cautious. Her son has already skipped about half of the sessions — she simply keeps him home from the first lesson on Mondays.
“If I know the topic is questionable, he doesn’t go. Especially since every week, there’s a school-wide assembly where the top students carry the flag. One time, I happened to be near the school at that hour — my son had forgotten something, so I brought it over. And there, at the assembly, was a priest in full robes. Some older girls had arrived late and were standing next to me. I asked them, ‘Why is there a priest?’ They just laughed and said, ‘Oh, he’s our new best friend now. He stops by our class every morning to wish us well. Apparently, we can go talk to him if we need anything.’ So that’s how it is — priests instead of school psychologists,” Maria says.
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“This is the kind of medieval nonsense our kids have been living with for two years now, and there’s no end in sight," says Oksana, a mother from Kaliningrad whose son is in sixth grade. “At home, we talk openly about what’s happening. We’re an anti-war family. Then he goes to school and comes back talking about ‘heroes’ who are supposedly protecting us from someone. And every time, we have to gently but firmly push back. I don’t know how much longer we can hold the line — the entire state apparatus is working against us.”
This year, according to new guidelines for “Important Conversations,” Russian soldiers fighting in Ukraine will be equated with World War II veterans. Teachers in eighth and ninth grade will be required to say: “It’s important to remember and know not only historic battles and past heroes but also the heroes of today.”
Over the past two years, most parents have resigned themselves to the program, Dmitry Tsibirev says.
“People have gotten used to it. They’re slowly adapting. Some try to negotiate with teachers to make the lessons less militarized, but that depends on the individual school. We’re not seeing any large-scale exodus from the system. I doubt it will be any different in kindergartens. For economic reasons alone, most families can’t afford to teach their children at home and also work. And the overall militarized environment — posters, recruitment ads — has become so normalized that these lessons no longer seem out of place," he says.