Thread by @Textyorgua_Eng

Battle for the history: how Russia is waging information war through children's books in foreign languages.

A thread 🧵⤵️

A few centuries ago the world only knew of Muscovy. Now, with the help of powerful & extensively-funded Russian propaganda, the situation has drastically changed & the history of Rus’ has become a parody.

Russia has created a colossal fake and made the whole world believe it!

Westerners tend to think that modern Russia descends from medieval Rus’ with its centre in Kyiv because of almost identical names.

They don't seem to differentiate between these 2 countries – Rus’ & Russia – from completely different epochs & never heard of a 1721 “rebranding”.

Peter I, Muscovian tsar & a sadist with big ambitions & sentiments for Europe has renamed the country of Muscovy into all-Russian empire.

He also “borrowed” the idea for a new flag from the Netherlands by simply swapping stripes & proclaiming himself the “emperor of all Russias”

If Peter's title was so important, then why not write that Peter I was the first tsar of Russia & Bulgaria?

Why only mention Rus', which he did not rule, because at that time the lands of the former Rus' together with Kyiv were under the rule of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.

Read the article in full 👇

texty.org.ua/articles/11014…

"I live in London and often come across people who don’t know much about Ukraine whilst their understanding of Russia is full of myths," writes @TonyaMaliei for .TEXTY.org.ua

"When I set to explore publications for kids, I realised that a lot of them, although being glossy & expensive encyclopedias with stunning infographics & colourful illustrations, all these books are mirroring centuries-old Russian propaganda onto unsuspecting young readers."

"They would feature this perpetual artificial connection between Rus’ & modern Russia via the Russian Empire with tales & legends being presented as facts.

Everything that doesn’t fit the narrative, like Ukraine and its historical heritage, is redacted, blended or just ignored."

You could easily come across Moscow or St Petersburg in the British history books for children, but would not find a mention of the ancient Kyiv.

Instead, children see the maps where everything is marked as Russia, be it Ukraine, Poland, Georgia, Armenia or Azerbaijan.

All this paints a grotesque picture: once upon a time there was an ancient and mysterious Rus’ or Russia (who knows!), somewhere around Kyiv.

Then, suddenly, all these people with all their cultural heritage teleported to lands around Moscow and settled there!

Speaking of Slavic tribes, these books claim that Slavs emerged on the territory of modern Russia, even though the historians consider lands between Vistula & Dnipro rivers their settlement areas.

These are the territories of modern Ukraine, Belarus & Poland, and not Russia.

A good reference would be the book “The Gates of Europe: A History of Ukraine” by @SPlokhy, professor of Ukrainian history at @Harvard.

There are also important works of Soviet historians free of propaganda, like the ones by Boris Rybakov.

europenowjournal.org/2022/05/04/the…

Russian propaganda brings the city of Novgorod into existence in the 9th century.

A legend, not confirmed by any respected historian, contrasts with scientific research by Valentin Yanin who clearly states that the city was founded mid-10th century.

Another example is Rurik. He first appears in the “Primary Chronicle” in the context of the 9th century and is assumed to be a father of Grand Prince Igor, as well as the one who starts Rurik’s dynasty.

encyclopediaofukraine.com/display.asp?li…

However, one of the earliest Slavonic texts “Sermon on Law and Grace” that dates back to 1037-1050s never mentions Rurik.

He is a fictional figure – even some Russian historians agree with that, for example Igor Danilevsky.

Legendary Rurik together with Oleg, another hero of “Primary Chronicle” who couldnt be verified in any other document, have settled in Novgorod (which didn’t exist at that time) or Ladoga, Scandinavian settlement on the river. Then he allegedly moves to Kyiv & becomes the prince.

Ladoga has never become a town, but it is vital for Russian propaganda to keep up with the myth that could overshadow the importance of Kyiv as the Rus’ capital, as well as to make the point that Ukrainian ancestors couldn’t establish a state without help from the outside.

Essentially, Russian narrative suggests that true rulers have come from these first capitals to settle in Kyiv & set the foundation of what children & adults should know as Russia.

Not just Russia, but “Kievan Russia”, a pseudohistorical construct modern Russia is very fond of.

For example, only one British book mentions Kievan Rus’ in a story about King Harald III of Norway whom Elisiv of Kyiv married to become Queen Consort.

The rest of the books, though, claim that vikings first came to Russia & label achievements by Grand Princes of Kyiv as Russian

How Russia's imperialist propaganda is spreading lies through history books for children: the final Part 3 ⤵️

After the destruction of Kyiv by the Golden Horde, neither the Kingdom of Rus’ (in the west of modern Ukraine) nor the King Danylo Romanovych, Daniel of Galicia, a historic figure of great importance who was crowned by the Pope in 1253, are being mentioned in Russian coursebooks.

Russian course of history gallops straight to Muscovian tsars “of all Russias” such as Ivan III.

Those books won't teach you that rulers of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania & Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth had the “King of Rus” & the “Great King of Rus” in their titles as well.

When they talk about Peter I, they don't mention Muscovy or the Moscow State, as the country was called at the time, even though many documents such as money or maps confirm this fact.

Instead the audience sees repeated mentions of a “Russian kingdom” that has never existed.

Case in point 👇 when explainers need to be further explained.

Peter I became a tsar of Muscovy and not Russia in 1682.

He rebranded Muscovy into Russia only some 39 years later.

The cossack era is also being overlooked.

Where cossacks get occasional referencing, they don't mention Ukraine, the important role of the Ukrainian Cossack state, Zaporizhzhya Sich or Hetmanship.

Even the famous Ukrainian cossack proverb conveniently becomes the Russian one👇

After learning such a version of the “history”, anyone would struggle to understand that Rus’ was an integral part of Ukrainian history and heritage, and that those historic events took place on the territory of modern Ukraine with the centre in Kyiv.

They wouldn’t know that modern Russia emerged on the territories between Oka and Volga rivers. And that it's being a history of Muscovy, not Russia, with all its imperialistic claims and colonial wars on surrounding territories and nations.

Russia can create whatever fictional history it needs to support its ambitions. It may well throw Kyiv out of all its schoolbooks – something it does already anyway. But why would other countries blindly accept & amplify it through children's books & other information sources?

This horrific situation with Russia's propaganda in children's books concerns not only the UK, it’s also common in other countries.

“My friends in France managed to find the same narrative in no time. One book states that Ukraine is part of the 'Russian region'.” - @TonyaMaliei

The problem is that these short, encyclopedic articles are easily remembered and can become a foundation of how we see and understand the world since our childhood.

Why does the West, being so aware of postcolonial trauma, still largely ignore Ukraine in the context of history?

Ukraine is being merged with the fictional “Russian world” at the same time when there are a lot of great books & lectures published on the subject of Ukrainian history.

@TimothyDSnyder, @SPlokhy, @anneapplebaum, among the many, are shedding light on the vast Moscovian darkness.

As Russia is waging another war on Ukraine to destroy its historical & cultural heritage, it is time for the civilized world to reject Russian centuries-long colonial narratives, separate fiction from facts & stop promoting propaganda once & for all.

texty.org.ua/articles/11014…