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Russia Turns War Into School Curriculum as Students Forced to Learn Dead Soldiers’ Names
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![Photo of Cyril Barabaltchouk]( "Photo of Cyril Barabaltchouk")
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Russian high school students are now required to memorize the names and “heroic deeds” of soldiers fighting in Ukraine to pass their mandatory history exams, The Moscow Times reported on March 23.
Vladislav Kononov, a senior official in the Presidential Administration, told local media that “alternative theories” will not be permitted for the Unified State Exam (EGE). Students must now identify 11 specific participants of the "Special Military Operation,” including Chechen commander Apti Alaudinov and former Wagner pilot Kanamat Botashev.
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Failure to learn these biographies from the state-approved textbook will result in an automatic failure of the exam.
The Kremlin has made the history EGE mandatory for admission into socio-humanitarian university majors such as Law, Sociology, and Public Policy. The exam also features questions on the “annexation” of Ukrainian territories, according to The Mocow Times.
Notably, after Ukrainian forces liberated Kherson from the Russian army in late 2022, examiners updated the questions to specify the “Kherson region” rather than the city itself to maintain the narrative of territorial control.
In 2023, a unified textbook commissioned by Russian leader Vladimir Putin and co-authored by presidential aide Vladimir Medinsky was introduced to schools. The text covers the last 50 years of history with a heavy emphasis on the invasion of Ukraine, replacing statistical data and dates with ideological narratives and extensive quotes from Putin. Education officials claim the new version is “easier to read” and serves as the definitive source for the national exam.
The Kremlin is no longer disguising its efforts to transform the national education system into a recruitment and indoctrination tool for the next generation. In early 2026, Ukrainian intelligence reported that Russian authorities have integrated drone operation and firearms training into the formal school curriculum.
Currently, as the ministry of education mandates the study of specific combat figures and rewritten history, it is apperent that the line between civilian education and military mobilization has effectively vanished.
