Russian Deputy Security Council Chairman Dmitry Medvedev has been appointed editor-in-chief of a new series of state social studies textbooks for grades 9 through 11, Russia’s Ministry of Education said on Thursday.
Deputy Education Minister Olga Koludarova said the ministry approached Medvedev last year with a proposal to lead the editorial work on textbooks, and that he agreed to do so without financial compensation.
His involvement would include page-by-page comments, editorial revisions, and recommendations that were incorporated into the final textbooks, updated federal education standards and teaching programs, according to Russian state media RIA Novosti.
Koludarova said the author team includes economists, sociologists, historians, legal experts and university lecturers, including candidates and doctors of science.
Medvedev served as Russia’s president from 2008 to 2012 and later as prime minister before becoming deputy chairman of the Security Council. While he was once viewed as a relatively moderate figure during his presidency, his public approval fell to historic lows by late 2021, according to data from the Russian Public Opinion Research Center (VCIOM), as previously reported by Kyiv Post.
In recent years, Medvedev has become one of the Kremlin’s most hawkish ideological figures. On Jan. 11, he said that Ukrainian attacks on Russian missile sites using Western weapons would warrant a nuclear response from Moscow.
He has repeatedly described Ukraine as a “Nazi regime,” a rhetoric that features prominently in Russian state narratives to justify the full-scale invasion and shape domestic political discourse.
Medvedev has also issued frequent warnings of escalation and used hostile rhetoric toward Western countries, underscoring concerns about his role as a prominent advocate of Kremlin messaging.
In September, Medvedev took to social media to dismiss Europe’s Coalition of the Willing, which met in Paris to discuss security guarantees for Ukraine.
“In plain English – it’s ‘bulls**t,’” he emphasized the word in English in a video shared on X.
“Or simply ‘sh*t,’” he continued in English, saying the gathering would lead “nowhere.”
The head of the Russian education ministry’s public council, Dmitry Lutovinov, said updating the social studies curriculum was long overdue.
Officials said the revised course will be more practice-oriented and closely linked to the study of history.