Vladimir Putin has just started to indoctrinate Russian schoolchildren through a new school curriculum, according to UK intelligence.
The Russian president reportedly taught a lecture to at least 30 high-achieving pupils in Moscow, called “Important Conversations”, on the first day of term.
A Ukrainian newspaper, The Kyiv Post, reported that he even told the children that Russia was “invincible”.
The Ministry of Defence explained in its latest daily update shared on platform X (formerly known as Twitter) that this was all part of Putin’s new strategy to “indoctrinate” the younger generations in favour of the war.
The UK intelligence said: “Russian president Vladimir Putin personally held an open lesson with 30 schoolchildren on the first day of term.
“Topics in the updated national history exam include Crimean reunification with Russia and the ‘Special Military Operation’ in Ukraine.”
The Crimean peninsula of Ukraine was annexed by Putin back in 2014, and Kyiv has vowed to regain the land. Moscow maintains that it is part of Russia, although most of the international community disagrees.
The Special Military Operation is also the name Putin has repeatedly given to the Ukraine war.
It goes against new Russian propaganda laws to use the word “war” to describe the ongoing conflict, although the Russian president has recently started to say it himself, more than year on from the start of the invasion.
The curriculum, approved by Russia’s parliament last year, includes the “Basics of Life Safety” is catered to senior pupils and has basic military training module.
According to the MoD, the lessons will include “handling Kalashnikovs, the use of hand grenades, uncrewed aerial vehicle operations, and battlefield first aid. Pupils may also be visited by Ukraine veterans.”
The UK intelligence officials said: “To indoctrinate students with the Kremlin rationale for the ‘Special Military Operaton’ instil students with a martial mindset, and reduce training timelines for onwards mobilisation and deployment.”
It comes amid speculation that support for the war in Russia could be waning ever so slightly, following a stagnant performance on the battlefield and more than 18 months of gruelling fighting.
Although the leader of the Wagner mercenary group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, died in a plane crash in August, it was only in June that he led an attempted coup against Putin’s ministry of defence.
That was the first open show of defiance against Putin since he first came into power more than 20 years.
As Russian security expert for the Royal United Services Institute, Emily Ferris, told the Metro: “What [the attempted coup] may have done is suggest to the political elite that a future without Putin could be considered, and this is a dangerous idea that Putin would be keen to quash.
“The effects of this have not yet been borne out.”