The Russian Ministry of Education is considering a new standardised text book for teaching history in Russian schools. The new text book whitewashes aspects of Russia’s past, for example, airbrushing the arrest and continued imprisonment of Mikhail Khodorkovsky out of the history of Putin’s rule. The Stalin era is also presented in a way which minimises the extent and duration of its horrors. The authors of the new text regard their project as an attempt to educate students in a “spirit of patriotism, citizenship and ethnic tolerance.”

While publicly stating that the project does not attempt to cover up historical mistakes, miscalculations and crimes in Russia, the authors omit any mention of the errors of President Vladimir Putin. Putin’s record is instead limited to the creation of the institute of plenipotentiaries, the approval of a new foreign policy concept, the abolition of gubernatorial elections (this is called “the new order of election”) and the declaration of national projects.

No mention is made of Khodorkovsky. His name is not even covered among the historical figures of the 1990s.

“There is nothing special in the case of Khodorkovsky, but right after his imprisonment quite a stir formed around him. The high rank representatives of the State had to constantly answer questions about reasons for his persecution”, said Andrei Petrov, the secretary of the Russian Historical Society who participated in the preparation of the project, about the notable omission.

As well as sanitising the more recent past, the authors also ambiguously evaluate the role of Joseph Stalin. The first years of his reign are addressed as “the period of forced industrialisation and modernisation exercised by extreme methods.” The mass repressions and atrocities that took place under Stalin are only attributed to the one year period of 1937 to 1938, since this period marks the biggest wave of repressions, said Petrov.  

Political analyst Dmitry Oreshkin criticised the Education Ministry’s plans, suggesting that Putin doesn’t even know what he wants from the new history textbook, but would perhaps like to see it reflect what he sees as the greatness of the Soviet Union and Stalin, something that can only be achieved fraudulently.