Russia introduces patriotic propaganda for preschool children

Russian authorities are expanding patriotic education into kindergartens, targeting children as young as three years old. Through a new program titled ‘Kindness Games,’ preschoolers are taught to accept the 2014 annexation of Crimea through songs, games, and structured activities.

Methodological guides, such as ‘Adventures in Crimea’ released by the Institute for Childhood, Family, and Education, outline specific exercises designed to instill nationalist views. For example, in a game called ‘Sun and Cloud,’ children are taught that Crimea was ‘abandoned and sad’ before joining Russia, and that ‘when Crimea and Russia joined, the sun came out.’

Other activities include ‘The Bridge of Friendship,’ where older children (ages six to seven) symbolically build the Crimean Bridge using a rope and chant, ‘Crimea and Russia – bridge forever!’ and ‘Train to Crimea,’ where children pretend to cross the Kerch Bridge while repeating that it is wonderful to be one country. Even lessons on local wildlife are used for propaganda, with children instructed to say, ‘A dolphin lives in Crimea – this is our Crimea!’

These initiatives are part of a broader transformation of the Russian education system into a tool for state propaganda and militaristic patriotism, following President Vladimir Putin’s directive to treat the struggle for children's minds as a ‘new front.’