YEREVAN, Armenia—Teachers in Russia are increasingly being used as a tool to push pro-Kremlin propaganda on their students as the war in Ukraine enters its third year.
Amongst biology and math lessons, these teachers are forced to introduce discussions of “important things” that all Russians should know, which just so happen to include pushing pro-war sentiment onto their students and educating young minds on Russian nationalism.
Any public opposition could result in the teachers being fired or imprisoned for not supporting the invasion of Ukraine. Teachers from Russia who spoke to The Daily Beast said they are left with two choices: suffer in silence as their profession is used as a political pawn by Russian President Vladimir Putin, or speak up and risk losing their freedom.
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For those keeping quiet, however, there are small opportunities for subtle acts of defiance.
The education system in Russia has changed vastly since the war in Ukraine began. Russian textbooks for the 11th grade, the final year of grade school, reframe Soviet history from the 1970s onwards to align with the modern political agenda, according to a report by the Wilson Center, the non-partisan global affairs think tank.
Russian President Vladimir Putin
Contributor/Getty ImagesA new textbook, written by Putin’s presidential aide Vladimir Medinsky and the Moscow State Institute of International Relations (MGIMO), has a separate chapter on the 2022 “Special Military Operation” in Ukraine, which “demonizes the West and presents Russia’s aggression against Ukraine as justified,” according to the report.
The classroom is not a safe place for discussion, but rather one where teachers and parents are unable to find allies and which now features a Soviet-style culture of denunciation where teachers, students, and parents can report on one another to authorities for any anti-war sentiments that can land them in jail.
“I am a little familiar with the new history textbook and it is a disgusting book. Through all the chapters, one can see the normalization of violence and the justification for Soviet repression. It’s just disgusting,” wrote one teacher, who asked to use the pseudonym Igor, via an encrypted messaging app.
Igor, 20, works in the remote Ural Mountains and said he believes teachers are used to push propaganda on students. “Some teachers are actively in favor of the war. Some criticize those who left during the war, hurling insults at them. Sometimes they talk about the bad influence of the West, often their statements contain xenophobia and homophobia,” he told The Daily Beast. “I believe that teachers are being used for propaganda among children and their parents, even taking these lessons talking about ‘important things,’ gifts, and letters to the military. It’s terrible.”
The new topic, officially called “Conversations About Important Things,” was introduced into classes in September 2022. The lesson takes place each Monday in a 30-minute-long video, which shows lessons that each citizen of the Russian Federation should have instilled in them. In reality, it has been used as a tool for propaganda, at times reinforcing that the state is the most authoritative source of information or speaking of the reunification of the Ukrainian Crimean Peninsula with mainland Russia.
“The topics are different, but they are quite patriarchal,” a teacher in Moscow, who requested anonymity and will be referred to as Emily, wrote in a series of Telegram messages to The Daily Beast.
“For example, they can teach children to live in marriage and distribute responsibilities, for the man work and money, for the woman household responsibilities,” she said.
“Teachers are required to include this video. If the teacher does not turn it on, the director speaks to them. If the requirements are not met, the school will lose government subsidies,” she added.
According to Emily, teachers in Russia are not allowed to acknowledge that there is a war between their home country and Ukraine on social media, and they can be given a warning or fired if they do so.
“Before the war started, my mission was to support children. It’s about showing them different ways to be happy and talking to them about things that are important to them,” said Emily.
“With the beginning of the war, my mission changed. Now, I want to convince them that human life and health are priceless. I want them to grow up to be non-killers,” she said, sketching out her small but heartfelt refusal to push Putin’s violent nationalistic rhetoric on the kids in her classes.
Emily added that speaking with students about the war is also forbidden. But in her “liberal” school, where students can dye their hair or wear dreadlocks and teachers can have tattoos and piercings, Emily said, “I have never heard negative statements from schoolchildren about Ukraine or Ukrainians. It seems to me that they don’t watch TV and don’t believe propaganda. I think each of them is experiencing some kind of internal story.”
“I would like to instill in schoolchildren a love of life and non-violence. But I understand that I cannot be entirely responsible for their worldview. Of course, I can influence a little, but not 100 percent,” she added.
Nina Nesterova, a biology teacher from Moscow, also believes that her profession is being used as a tool for Russian propaganda. In April 2022, Nesterova put on a black balaclava and slipped onto the quiet streets of Moscow at night.
She had already been arrested twice for anti-war protests against President Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. But she remained fearless. Nesterova took to the streets in an act of defiance: If the Kremlin would not let her write her words on social media, posters and stickers, she would spray paint them on Moscow’s walls and sidewalks. Regardless of the consequences. Nesterova would not be deprived of her free speech.
One night, she wrote in yellow spray paint on the sidewalk, “Putler Kaput,” an homage to “Hitler Kaput,” a World War II slogan that was used by Russians to show that Hitler’s regime had ended.
“Peace to Ukraine, Freedom to Russia,” she wrote in yellow again, this time marked with a peace sign on a bus stop shelter.
On another occasion, she went to a nature reserve with a red marker and wrote: “Peace is a virtue of civilization. War is its crime. No war!”
For seven months, Nesterova lived a double life, working as a biology teacher serving underprivileged students by day and walking around with a paint can in her hand at night.
Though the authorities never caught her for her vandalism, she was arrested three times in total for her anti-war activism. The third was in February 2023, around the time of the war’s first anniversary. She had just come from a movie theater wearing a blue hat and yellow scarf, symbolizing Ukraine’s national colors. Her backpack was adorned with ribbons of the same colors and a rainbow cow toy hanging from one of its zippers to support the LBGTQ+ community.
Nesterova said officers then detained her and brought her to a holding cell where she was held for discrediting the Russian army, supporting the banned LBTQ+ organization, and resisting arrest, the last of which she says was falsified.
After two days, Nesterova was placed in front of a judge and told to come back at a later date. But she never made it to her court date—she left for Kazakhstan that same day. Now she lives in Yerevan, Armenia, and might never be able to return to her life in Russia and to her job as a teacher.
Unlike Nesterova, who was unwavering in her protesting against the war, the two other teachers that The Daily Beast spoke with fear what might happen to them if they were to protest. Instead, they try to remain silent when they want to scream that the war is unjust, that people on either side are dying, and that Ukraine should be free.
But in Putin’s Russia, which seemingly has no end, the teachers feel mostly powerless against a rigged system that wants them to instill hatred for Ukrainians and the West and teach them how to be good members of society.
Putin is expected to remain in power for another six years after the upcoming presidential election, to be held between March 15 and March 17. Russian propagandists and government officials have worked to portray the U.S. elections as deeply flawed and unreliable. The aim was to discredit the U.S. and Western democracies while praising the legitimacy of Russia’s elections.
But this presidential election is expected to be anything but fair. Speaking about the elections, Igor said, “I think he (Putin) will win. The elections will not be fair.”
Emily echoed Igor’s words, saying, “I hope Putin doesn’t win. But his loss is very unlikely. I bet 95 percent that nothing will change. People in Russia are very inert; most likely, they will not come to the polling stations. Plus, the state apparatus will draw numbers as usual so that Putin wins.” However, Emily told The Daily Beast that she will vote against Putin in the upcoming elections.
Nesterova had never wanted to participate in politics before the war. Although she had voted in elections, she did not want to be an activist. Now in Armenia, which allows Russian to live there even without international passports, Nesterova cried as she began to speak of the war’s toll on her mental health.
“I cry a lot, but I can talk. I was just in a lot of pain. And I wanted to do something about it. I couldn’t eat and couldn’t sleep,” she said.
Twice, Nesterova was arrested and released without being charged with a crime, but the third time was her undoing. As a teacher, her position was even more precarious.
According to a report by OVD-Info, a Russian independent human rights and media group that provided legal services for Nesterova, there have been 19,850 detentions of Russians who oppose the war and 854 criminal cases against anti-war dissidents since Feb. 24, 2022. Some of the arrests have been for infractions as minor as posting anti-war views on social media or replacing supermarket price tags with anti-war messages. In Nesterova’s case, the final straw was her clothes.
Nesterova believed she had done nothing wrong, but in the holding cell that she had become familiar with, she knew this time was different. Two days later, Nesterova appeared in front of a judge who gave her a court hearing date, on which she would most likely be found guilty of her activism and given a jail sentence.
Nesterova said she was encouraged by her representatives at OVD-Info to take a three-week trip out of Russia and miss her court hearing. They told her that not showing up would look like she was disrespecting the judge, and she would most likely be given a guilty verdict. But they told her it was only an administrative proceeding; it didn’t mean anything. She left to stay with friends in Kazakhstan that day.
“I told everyone at school that I was leaving for three weeks. They supported me in every possible way because they knew what I was doing,” said Nesterova.
In quiet acts of solidarity by her fellow teachers, one colleague gave her 50,000 rubles, the equivalent of $500, when he realized she was leaving, and other teachers supported her decision to leave, saying they would not replace her in her absence. As the three weeks ended, Nesterova had already bought her flight back to Moscow. Then she said her father sent her a picture.
“A letter was thrown into his mailbox: Suspect Nina Nesterova, we would like to inform you that a criminal case has been opened against you under article 280.3 of the Criminal Code.”
Criminal Code 280.3 states public actions aimed at discrediting the use of the Russian Armed Forces. It includes public pleas or calls for obstructing the use of the military, and the punishment can range anywhere from 200,000 to 300,000 rubles ($2,000 to $3,000) to imprisonment for up to three years.
“Two days in my cell were enough for me. I’m not a hero; I’m a coward. I don’t want to go to jail,” said Nesterova.
So, Nesterova moved to Yerevan, a place where she does not speak the language and thus cannot apply for teaching positions and her safety is at risk. Armenia has close ties to Moscow and has detained anti-war activists in the past. In July 2023, Nesterova applied for a visa to Germany, which grants some opposition figures and journalists humanitarian visas.
But she has yet to hear back.
“I was told that it was safe and that Armenia has never extradited those requested from Russia. But I don’t feel completely safe. If approved [by Germany], I will move and teach there,” said Nesterova.
However, Nesterova added that she does not regret her decision to protest; rather, she says, “I regretted I didn’t do much. I had the idea of shooting our military registration and enlistment office with paint balloons. I didn’t manage to do that in time.”
In Armenia, Nesterova is having to work as an online tutor—she says she gets less pleasure teaching from teaching online but it’s better than not working with children at all.
Reflecting on the life she used to have, Nesterova adds: “I worked at a wonderful school. I miss my children and colleagues. I really liked my life in Russia, but the Kremlin broke it when it started the war.”
