As Vladimir Putin continues his bloody campaign to conquer Ukraine, the Russian head of state is presiding over an equally important transformation at home - turning his country into a regressive, militarized society that views the West as its mortal enemy. This was commented by Washington Post journalist Robin Dixon.
He concluded that Putin's inauguration on Tuesday for a fifth term would not only mark his 25th year in power, but also signal Russia's transition into what pro-Kremlin commentators call a "revolutionary force," determined to change world order, to create its own rules and to demand that totalitarian autocracy be respected as a legitimate alternative to democracy in a world divided by the great powers into spheres of influence.
According to analyst Dmitry Trenin, the anti-Western change in Russia is "more radical and large-scale" than expected. According to him, Putin has invaded Ukraine, but it is also a "relatively minor element of the wider transformation that is taking place in the Russian economy, politics, society, culture, values, spiritual and intellectual life".
According to the author, in order to carry out this transformation, the Kremlin has the following goals:
forming an ultraconservative, puritanical society mobilized against liberal freedoms and particularly hostile to gays and transgenders, in which family politics and social spending uphold traditional Orthodox values;
reshaping education at all levels to raise a new generation of caring, patriotic youth, with textbooks rewritten in line with Kremlin propaganda, patriotic curricula set by the state and, from September, mandatory military courses led by soldiers, called "Fundamentals of Homeland Security and Defense", which will include training in the handling of Kalashnikov assault rifles, grenades and unmanned aerial vehicles;
sterilizing cultural life with blacklists of liberal or anti-war performers, directors, writers and artists, as well as with new nationalist mandates for museums and filmmakers;
mobilizing fervent pro-war activism under the violent Z symbol, which was first painted on the side of Russian tanks invading Ukraine but has since spread to government buildings, posters, schools and organized demonstrations;
restricting women's rights by promoting the need to have children - young and often - and by restricting access to abortion, as well as by accusing feminist activists and liberal journalists of terrorism, extremism, discrediting the military and other crimes ;
rewriting history to honor Joseph Stalin, the Soviet dictator who sent millions to the Gulag, through at least 95 of Russia's 110 monuments built under Putin as leader;
accusing scientists of treason, equating criticism of the war or Putin with terrorism or extremism, and creating a new militarized elite of "warriors and workers" ready to take up arms, redraw international borders, and violate global norms on order of the mighty Russian ruler.
"They are trying to develop this scientific Putinism as a basis for propaganda, as a basis for ideology, as a basis for historical education.
They need an obedient new generation - indoctrinated robots in an ideological sense to support Putin, to support his ideas, to support this militarization of consciousness.
They need cannon fodder for the future," says Andrey Kolesnikov, senior research fellow at the "Carnegie Russia - Eurasia" Center.