On January 27, a new school textbook was introduced in Moscow that draws parallels between Russia's involvement in Ukraine and the Soviet resistance against the Nazis, asserting that Russia was "compelled" to send troops into Ukraine. President Vladimir Putin frames the conflict as a necessary response to a Western- and NATO-supported Ukraine, viewing it as part of a broader struggle against a perceived threat from the West aimed at undermining Russia.
In contrast, Ukraine and its Western allies characterize Russia's actions as an aggressive and unjustified attempt to annex territory. The three-volume "Military History of Russia," overseen by Vladimir Medinsky, an advisor to Putin who led a delegation during unsuccessful peace talks in 2022, aims to present the Russian perspective on the conflict to students aged 15 and above.
The book elaborates on the Kremlin's justification for the war's origins and conduct, praising instances of heroism on the battlefield and highlighting similarities with tactics employed by the Soviet army in World War Two. A section titled "Professionalism, indomitability, and courage: Russian troops in the Special Military Operation" asserts that Russia was compelled to intervene in Ukraine due to Western disregard for its security concerns, citing NATO's expansion and the 2014 change in Ukrainian leadership as provocations.
While NATO and Ukraine reject the notion of posing a threat to Russia, Ivan Basik, a military historian affiliated with the Russian army, stressed during a TASS news conference that Western and Ukrainian actions had made the conflict "inevitable." Basik emphasized the importance of educating the younger generation, including schoolchildren, about the perceived necessity of Russia's military operation in Ukraine, stating, "The most important task was to explain to the younger generation, to schoolchildren, the forced nature of the special military operation carried out by the Russian Federation."