Pavel Talankin worked as a videographer at School No. 1 in the small Russian town of Karabash in the Urals. Soon after the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, all schools in Russia received instructions on how to deal with this war in their classes. Talankin was tasked with filming everything – as evidence.
„When I recorded the first lesson, I thought I was going crazy. The history teacher explained that Russia, Ukraine and Belarus are friendly countries, but that Ukraine has slipped into neo-Nazism and we must liberate it," Talankin told German public broadcaster ARD.
Every Monday, Russian schools hold "conversations about important things." All children and teenagers honor the Russian flag, write to soldiers at the front, learn to march, and sometimes do much more. For example, Talankin filmed a visit to the paramilitary group "Wagner." There, the children learned from the mercenaries that they should never close their helmets under their chins so as not to break their necks when the weapon recoils. Then they engaged in shootings and even threw grenades.
Hundreds of Thousands of Teachers in Russia Have Quit Their Jobs
Russian President Vladimir Putin is creating a youth army across the country - similar to the Soviet-era Pioneer organization, Talankin says. He was supposed to send the footage to the Ministry of Education, then destroy it. "But it became clear to me that I don't have the moral right to delete all this. Because this is evidence of how propaganda penetrates Russian schools and what goes on inside them," the teacher-educator adds.
Almost 200,000 teachers have quit their jobs in Russia in the past two years. At Talankin's school in the Urals, there were staunch Putin supporters: the physical education teacher, for example, volunteered to fight in Ukraine, where she flew drones. There were also critical colleagues - those who had lost all hope for their homeland, ARD points out, quoting the words of the documentary's author.
“This propaganda will stay in their heads“
Through social media, the young Russian contacted an American director in Denmark, and that's how the idea of making a documentary was born. After two years, the danger for Talankin in Russia became too great, and he was forced to leave the country - with all the footage he had shot, he arrived in the Czech Republic, which granted him asylum.
Talankin believes that the West is very naive in its relations with Russia. “Even if we manage to hold peace talks now, even if we manage to stop this war, it will not really end,“ he says. Putin will do everything to present the truce as his victory. “And this propaganda that the students are imbued with cannot just be washed away. "The propaganda will stay in their heads," the teacher assures.
Author: Mariane Alvajs (ARD)