The fall after the Kremlin launched its full-scale war against Ukraine, schools across Russia introduced a new state-designed “patriotic” lesson series called “Important Conversations.” Now, the program is expanding to some of the youngest members of society — kindergartners. Officials in the Vologda region are piloting the new initiative. At some of the first lessons, teachers dressed children in uniforms, gave them toy guns, pretended to bandage their arms, led a moment of silence, and played patriotic music.
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In October 2024, President Vladimir Putin met with Russian educators, including Nadezhda Vorontsova, a kindergarten teacher from Vologda and a finalist in the “Teacher of the Year” competition. It was Vorontsova who suggested expanding “Important Conversations” to kindergarten. Putin supported the idea.
Vorontsova has now been appointed to lead the project in Vologda. At the kindergarten where she works, the first session, called “What Do I Know About the War?” took place on January 20. According to the kindergarten’s social media page, the goal was to “instill a sense of moral appreciation for our country’s heroic past by exploring how older preschoolers understand the Great Patriotic War [World War II].”
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For now, the program is set to run until May 19. Lessons will take the form of “discussions, role-playing games, quizzes, interviews, and rapid-fire Q&A sessions.” Children will learn about World War II heroes, military professions, hero cities, war memorials, and medals. Kindergartens will also set up patriotic displays.
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Officially, Russia’s Education Ministry is still considering whether to expand its patriotism program to kindergartens, with final recommendations set to be presented to Putin on March 1. But in many regions, local officials aren’t waiting — kindergartens have already begun holding their own “Important Conversations” sessions on the initiative of regional administrations.
“[...] We’ve seen a huge number of similar lessons in other regions — Murmansk, Rostov, Kaliningrad. They’ve really ramped up since the start of 2025, and the format closely mirrors what’s happening in schools, with the same level of militarization. Soldiers who fought in Ukraine come in to talk about the war. Right now, the main topic is the Siege of Leningrad. The materials are taken straight from school curricula, with little to no adaptation for kindergarteners,” says Dmitry Tsibirev, founder NeNorma, a project dedicated to fighting propaganda in schools.
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The “Important Conversations” program was introduced in Russian schools on September 1, 2022. Two and a half years later, a survey by the state-run polling agency VTsIOM found that parents ranked it among the most useless subjects in school.
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[Edit typo.]