Just as in “1984” – George Orwell’s dystopian vision – Moscow is now attempting not only to tell its citizens WHAT to think, but HOW to think. These recent actions show how elements of Orwell’s “concept” are being put into practice.
Anna Kuznetsova – deputy speaker of Russia’s State Duma
It seems that “woke” attitudes, or Russia’s interpretation of the mindset that is besetting the West, are also infiltrating the purity of “Putinism.”
Russia is creating an explanatory dictionary to “define the meaning of ‘spiritual and moral values’ to differentiate between Western concepts of such things as humanism and those accepted by the Russian Orthodox Church.
Kuznetsova said: “We have created a consortium of universities, the definition of the concepts is ready, and the process of discussing the document is currently underway.”
The dictionary will serve as a regulation for the actions of government agencies and public organizations and to provide a glossary to “avoid confusion in the interpretation of these concepts.”
“Kolobok and Cheburashka in the camouflage forest”
In exchange for an entrance fee of a pack of “wet wipes” to be sent to troops serving in Russia’s so-called “special military operation,” primary school and kindergarten children in the Sverdlovsk region are “treated” to a “patriotic version” of the famous folk tales of a talking bun who runs away and a monkey-like creature “unknown to science.”
If you’re unfamiliar with the tales, you can read a summary of the Kolobok story here and that of Cheburashka (and Crocodile Gena), along with a commentary here on its impact on the children of the Soviet Union.
The play is organized by the Yolkiny Zaboty (People’s Regiment) movement. According to a report on the “Ne Norma” Telegram channel, a woman in a camouflage hat wearing a sweatshirt bearing a popular Putin quote – “the bear will not ask anyone’s permission; he will not give up his taiga to anyone” – shows children “camouflage products” that society has produced for use by Russian forces with no apparent mention of either Kolobok or Cheburashka.
The aim of the “entertainment” is to teach Russian children that clothes have important roles to play other than for keeping them warm.
“Our Defender: Portrait of a Hero.”
In Dagestan, second grade students were given the task of coloring in 25 portraits of Abdulaiz Shikhabidov, who commanded the 51st parachute regiment of Russia’s 76th Airborne Division. Units of this division were implicated in atrocities committed in Bucha in the Kyiv region during Russia’s 2022 full-scale invasion after which made a Hero of Russia.
Margarita Simonyan, editor-in-chief of the RT (formerly Russia Today) media group – and “Putin’ you in the Picture’s” favorite propagandist – was at it again.
She acted as moderator of a panel debating “new directions for the development of a Eurasian media partnership” at a business forum in Moscow called “Eurasia – Territory of Traditional Values.”
During the debates, Simonyan called for a total ban on YouTube because it was
“a source of negative content,” adding that it, along with “… all [websites] that are carriers of various kinds of infections should be banned.”
She said that, until a formal ban was implemented, “parents should establish the sanction against their children, thereby protecting them from destructive content.”
No porn please, we’re Russian!
The mayor of the town of Surgut in Russia’s Samara region, Maxim Slepov, announced a ban on municipal officials accessing pornography on their council owned computers. The sanction specifies that employees are prohibited from “liking” pornographic images and videos, posting such material themselves, as well as publishing content containing nude pictures or photos that include expensive cars in the background.
This was categorized as the next stage of Slepov’s drive to impose a code of ethics and official conduct on council workers that would ensure, “the conscientious and effective performance of their official duties by municipal employees,” the implementation of which he would personally supervise.
Memorial to the “success” of the Sudzha pipeline infiltration attack
Moscow’s desperate search for good news to publicize in relation to its “special military operation” continues. Its latest propaganda vehicle is “Operation Potok,” by which Russian forces attempted to infiltrate Ukrainian defenses in the Kursk region’s city of Sudzha through a disused gas pipeline in early March; the success or failure of which depends on whose side of the war in Ukraine you are on.
Moscow has no compunction in claiming a total strategic and military victory with representations of the 1,420 mm (56 inch) diameter pipeline being displayed in various parts of the federation. At the end of March, a 16-meter (52-foot) long replica pipe was installed near the “Church on the Blood” in Yekaterinburg in Russia’s Sverdlovsk region.
The latest “art installation” – a meter (3 feet) long section of the “actual pipe” was installed in front of the Kursk Drama Theatre in the center of Kursk city. This precedes a planned exhibition dedicated to the operation showing photographs and personal belongings of the participants of Potok.
Do your duty – get pregnant, get paid
Russia’s concern about falling birth rates and some of the extreme measures it has put in place is perhaps exemplified – as is so often the case in Putin’s Russia – by the change in direction of a TV program.
Around five years ago, Russia’s YU TV began to broadcast a show called “Pregnant at 16” – which produced documentary accounts of the struggles of schoolgirl mothers, and intended to discourage incidences of teenage pregnancies.
The program has now been renamed and rebranded as “Mama at 16” which now features stories that highlight the “beauty of motherhood.” Each episode tells the story behind one of Russia’s “underage heroines,” invariably painted as a positive and uplifting experience.
The independent Russian news site Meduza reports that, according to Moscow’s Ministry of Health in Russia, there are 800 underage girls per 100,000 pregnancies. Russia now boasts that most of them decide to keep the child – the offer of a payment of up to 150,000 rubles ($1,800) by the Ministry of Labor in more than 40 regions probably helps.
This state “generosity” comes along with the Kremlin’s ongoing push to increase the country’s birth rate – pressuring women to have more children and glorifying those who do, pillorying those who seek abortions and restricting access to abortion services, all reinforced with so-called “family values” courses in schools.