In Russia, publishers are forced to remove references to Kyiv and Ukraine in school textbooks. Employees of Russian editorial boards are threatened with dismissal for taking a stand against the war in Ukraine.
This is reported by the publication "Mediazone".
On condition of anonymity, employees of the Prosveshchenie company, one of Russia's largest publishers of educational literature, said that after the start of the war in Ukraine they were "insistently" asked to remove "incorrect" references to Kyiv and Ukraine from school textbooks. The subjects in question are history, geography and literature. It is noted that the instruction was "passed" verbally from above.
In particular, the editors were tasked with making it look as if Ukraine simply does not exist. "If possible, it is better not to mention Ukraine at all," said one of the publication's interlocutors.
According to him, in the textbooks the mention of Kyiv is reduced to the fact that it was the capital of Kyivan Rus and it was liberated during World War II by the Soviet army.
The interlocutors specified that pressure began to be exerted from the first days of the war in Ukraine. Thus, when hiring employees they are forced to sign a large number of documents on nondisclosure of information. In addition, the editors of the newspaper are threatened with dismissal for any manifestation of an anti-war stance, including signatures on petitions, posts on social networks, and participation in protests.