- 2 weeks ago
How Russia rewires young minds — from classrooms to the battlefield, one child at a time.
👉 What World Leaders NEED to Know about Russia: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL6d9EIByxz1AdkmIOYUlrDd0rmByq5zSN
In today’s Russia, propaganda starts young. With mandatory “Conversations About What Matters,” the Kremlin shapes children’s minds long before they can question authority. In this video, I take you inside the new classroom rituals — and show how ancient instincts, Soviet methods, and modern tactics combine to raise not citizens, but future enforcers. From quiet resistance to dangerous indoctrination, this is a chilling look at how easily a government can twist childhood into loyalty.
Video Chapters:
00:00 How Russia Brainwashes Its Children
01:25 How to Play on Ancient Instincts
04:29 Echoes of the Soviet Classroom
08:45 The New Propaganda
11:52 Inside the Propaganda Narrative
18:29 The Cost of Indoctrination
19:55 Orders and Budgets
22:47 The Social Divide in Propaganda Exposure
👉 JOIN ME ON THE JOURNEY Sign-up for news about the New Book here: https://elvirabary.com/elvira-barys-newsletter/
MY HISTORICAL FICTION BOOK SERIES
➡️ Russian Treasures (a historical nove
👉 What World Leaders NEED to Know about Russia: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL6d9EIByxz1AdkmIOYUlrDd0rmByq5zSN
In today’s Russia, propaganda starts young. With mandatory “Conversations About What Matters,” the Kremlin shapes children’s minds long before they can question authority. In this video, I take you inside the new classroom rituals — and show how ancient instincts, Soviet methods, and modern tactics combine to raise not citizens, but future enforcers. From quiet resistance to dangerous indoctrination, this is a chilling look at how easily a government can twist childhood into loyalty.
Video Chapters:
00:00 How Russia Brainwashes Its Children
01:25 How to Play on Ancient Instincts
04:29 Echoes of the Soviet Classroom
08:45 The New Propaganda
11:52 Inside the Propaganda Narrative
18:29 The Cost of Indoctrination
19:55 Orders and Budgets
22:47 The Social Divide in Propaganda Exposure
👉 JOIN ME ON THE JOURNEY Sign-up for news about the New Book here: https://elvirabary.com/elvira-barys-newsletter/
MY HISTORICAL FICTION BOOK SERIES
➡️ Russian Treasures (a historical nove
Category
📚
LearningTranscript
00:00The Russian authorities don't call it propaganda.
00:03They call it conversations about what matters.
00:06It sounds harmless, even wholesome.
00:10Every Monday morning, across Russia, children file into classrooms,
00:14open their notebooks and prepare for a new subject
00:18that didn't exist just a few years ago.
00:20No tests, no homework.
00:23Just a teacher reading from a government-approved script
00:26accompanied by sleekly produced videos.
00:30My name is Elvira Barry.
00:31I was born in the Soviet Union and I remember exactly how it feels
00:36when the government starts shaping your worldview
00:40before you are old enough to understand what's happening.
00:44Back then, we had communist rituals, patriotic songs and essays praising the motherland.
00:52The goal was to build loyalty before conscience.
00:57Today, history repeats itself.
00:59Russia is once again raising children not to think, but to obey.
01:04In the process, they are creating something much darker.
01:08Future imperialists, nationalists and executioners.
01:13People who will follow any order, no matter how senseless or cruel.
01:19This is how Putin's Russia brainwashes its children.
01:23And it's happening right now.
01:29It's happening right now.
01:30Conversations about what matters launched in 2022 are now mandatory weekly classes in
01:36every Russian school, from first grade through graduation.
01:40At first, they were introduced quietly.
01:44Then came a grand patriotic campaign.
01:48The core message is drilled in early.
01:50Russia is always right, Russia is strong, and Russia must be defended.
01:55Even if that means dying for it.
01:59But let's be clear.
02:00When they say Russia, they don't mean the people.
02:03They mean the state, the elite, the small circle of men determined to hold power for as long as possible.
02:10Men who need bodies for their wars, fists for their police, voices for propaganda, and loyal bureaucrats to keep the
02:19system running.
02:20Of course, none of this is said out loud.
02:23Russian propaganda operates at a very high level.
02:26Perfected over generations, thanks to Soviet legacies and even older traditions rooted in
02:32Orthodox religious schooling dating back to the birth of Russian Christianity.
02:38It taps into instincts older than any ideology.
02:41First, it exploits humanity's most basic division – us versus them.
02:49Children learn to be vigilant, always watching for spies, traitors, and anyone deviating from the approved path.
02:57Second, it creates sacred symbols and abstract ideas – things children cannot touch, question, or verify.
03:05They quickly learn – loyalty to these symbols earns praise.
03:11Failure means rejection and social exclusion.
03:14That fear of rejection kicks in long before children understand it.
03:19In prehistoric times, being cast out from the tribe meant death.
03:24That instinct lives inside us.
03:27Children comply not because they believe, but because something deep whispers – stay safe, stay accepted.
03:36Finally, there is peer pressure.
03:38When everyone repeats the same message, quiet disagreement makes you feel small and powerless.
03:46You can't organize or resist.
03:49Group pressure is another ancient survival instinct.
03:52In the Stone Age, unity meant life, disagreement meant death.
03:58Being the black sheep feels dangerous, even if you are physically safe.
04:03Constant stress forces you to fight yourself rather than the system.
04:08Those running these propaganda lessons aren't evolutionary psychologists.
04:13Most don't know why their approach works.
04:16They are simply following a formula passed down through generations.
04:21Because those in power have always known this is how you control your subjects.
04:33If this feels familiar, it should.
04:37Russia has done it before.
04:38In the Soviet Union, education was never neutral.
04:42It was a weapon.
04:44Children learned that Stalin was the wisest man of all times.
04:49That the Communist Party was their true family.
04:52And that betraying the state was worse than betraying their own parents.
04:58Loyalty wasn't encouraged.
05:00It was demanded.
05:02Even math problems had military themes.
05:05If one Soviet tank destroys three enemy tanks per hour, how many will it destroy in six hours?
05:12Teachers weren't free to teach.
05:14Their job was to mold Homo Sovieticus, a new kind of human who fought collectively,
05:20obeyed blindly, and trusted the state more than their own eyes.
05:25Deviation was harshly punished.
05:27A teacher criticizing the party could be branded an enemy of the people.
05:32Students were encouraged to report on parents, neighbors, even classmates.
05:37One boy became a national hero for denouncing his father to the secret police.
05:42His name was Pavlik Morozov.
05:45From 1948 to 1991, his monument stood in a Moscow park.
05:50I remember how it was.
05:52From the first day of school, we knew who our heroes were.
05:57Lenin, father of the Soviet state.
06:00Gagarin, the first man in space.
06:02And a long list of child martyrs from wars and revolutions.
06:07But none of them felt real.
06:10Their portraits were everywhere.
06:12Black and white.
06:13Retouched so many times, their faces seemed unnatural.
06:16We didn't see them as people, but as icons.
06:21Every week, we gathered for our version of today's conversations about what matters,
06:27called political information sessions.
06:30Teachers read articles from Pravda o Izveste, celebrating Soviet successes, denouncing the imperialist
06:38West, and praising the party.
06:39It was painfully boring.
06:42Nobody listened.
06:44Even teachers didn't care.
06:46For them, it was just another box to check.
06:49The actual message didn't matter.
06:51We didn't know anyone from America or Israel.
06:54The countries we were told to fear.
06:56Lenin and communist ideologues had no real bearing on our lives.
07:01But for some students, these sessions offered an opportunity.
07:07The top students, hungry for praise, volunteered to prepare materials, often the first step toward
07:14a party career.
07:15In reality, these sessions served two purposes.
07:19Administrators proved their loyalty by reporting they had taken place and identified eager students
07:26to promote into Soviet youth organizations.
07:28The Soviet goal was to reach children early.
07:32If successful, no one needed to fight for their loyalty later.
07:36That's why the early Soviet Union had no shortage of young, ideologically driven people ready to
07:42fight wars or build railroads beyond the Arctic Circle.
07:47And that's exactly what today's conversations about what matters aim to replicate.
07:52Creating a new generation ready to sacrifice for the idea.
07:57And expandable resource.
08:00When the war with Ukraine began, Putin was genuinely surprised.
08:04There was no line at the enlistment offices.
08:08He'd assumed people would eagerly die for his ambitions.
08:12They didn't.
08:14The generation now in their 20s and 30s grew up without this kind of early patriotic indecination.
08:21Putin's only option was to pay enormous sums to persuade people to fight.
08:26But his system doesn't have bottomless pockets.
08:30It's far cheaper and wiser to invest in propaganda now.
08:34In 5 or 10 years, he'll have a fully indecinated generation
08:39ready to fight and die simply because the man at the top tells them to.
08:49The Russian state ordered schools to bring wash children.
08:54But quickly realized it didn't have enough trained people to do it effectively.
09:00So, lesson plans are developed centrally by the Institute for Education Strategy and the Ministry of Education.
09:08All materials come pre-packaged, unloaded to an online platform ready for teachers to download and deliver.
09:16Every week, teachers receive a full script, exact phrases to say, specific images to show, and moral conclusions to emphasize.
09:26A leaked 2023 document outlined the intended outcomes.
09:30Students should understand the moral correctness of Russia's actions in Ukraine,
09:37admire the heroism of its soldiers, and identify threats to traditional values.
09:44One objective even included building greater resistance to destructive Western influences.
09:52But here's the core problem.
09:54There's hardly any real ideology left.
09:58Nothing fresh or inspiring.
10:00Nothing that could define a person or steer genuine passion.
10:05Propaganda works best when the world divides neatly into us versus them.
10:10Suppose Russia claims to defend traditional values.
10:14Fine.
10:15But what exactly are those values?
10:19According to the Ministry, they include life, dignity, human rights, patriotism, strong families,
10:26creativity, humanism, justice, collectivism, historical memory, and unity.
10:32But how is that different from values held in France, America, Britain, or Japan?
10:38Worse yet, reality in Russia directly contradicts nearly every one of these ideals.
10:55And that entire us versus them narrative rests on three lies.
11:01The lie that the West rejects these values or actively attacks them.
11:07The lie that the West has always sought to destroy Russia.
11:11And the lie that Russia's rulers actually uphold these values themselves.
11:17Family values.
11:19Putin abandoned his wife for a younger gymnast.
11:22Humanism and mercy.
11:24Russian soldiers are sent to war as disposable tools,
11:28let alone Ukrainians dying under Russian bombs.
11:32This propaganda only works if children are cut off from the outside world.
11:36And that's exactly what Russian authorities ensure.
11:40Even if parents disagree with indeclination, there's little they can do.
11:45In Soviet times, children were state property.
11:48Today, that same attitude is quietly returning.
11:57Today's conversation about what matters don't just praise Russia.
12:01In Russia, they rewrite history.
12:03Stalin is rehabilitated.
12:06The annexation of Crimea is celebrated.
12:09Opposition leaders are raised.
12:11The war in Ukraine?
12:12Renamed a special military operation and presented to children as a noble mission.
12:18This is not about ideas.
12:20It's about identity.
12:22One internal report describes the goal as fostering a unified moral patriotic consciousness.
12:30That phrase should scare you.
12:32Because this is not education.
12:35It's programming.
12:37So, next time you feel frustrated by political division in your country, remember, the alternative is this.
12:45When you start programming children from age 6 to accept war, loyalty, and sacrifice as moral duties, you are not
12:52raising citizens.
12:54You are raising fanatics.
12:56Some lessons sound harmless – family, tradition, heroes of their motherland.
13:01But underneath, the pattern is clear, glorifies sacrifice, label descent as treason, and elevate blind loyalty over critical thinking.
13:13One Moscow mother said her 7-year-old came home confused after a lesson on bravery.
13:19The teacher explained how noble it was to die for Russia during the special military operation.
13:25The child asked,
13:27Mom, would you be proud of me if I died like that?
13:31Another nationwide lesson titled, What is a true citizen?
13:37Praised unconditional loyalty and denounced foreign influence.
13:42Children are told the West is corrupt, Ukraine is a Nazi state, and fallen soldiers are martyrs.
13:50Teachers assign thank-you letters to soldiers at the front.
13:54Kids draw flowers and tanks on postcards, which are then delivered directly to the battlefield.
14:00A teacher in Voronezh said it plainly.
14:04We are not teaching kids how to think anymore.
14:06We are teaching them how to obey.
14:09And if you don't obey, teachers can be punished.
14:14Parents investigated.
14:16Children who ask uncomfortable questions become problem students.
14:20In one case, a high school principal reported her own students to the police for writing that the
14:28war in Ukraine was morally wrong.
14:30The students were arrested.
14:32Meanwhile, the most obedient children, those who eagerly participate, are labeled patriots.
14:40They are praised, promoted, and rewarded.
14:43Just like in my childhood.
14:45Of course, not every teacher wants to become an ideological inspector.
14:51But what can they do?
14:52I asked a friend of mine who teaches in Russia how this looks in her school.
14:57She told me she avoids it as much as possible.
15:01Then she quietly added.
15:03Let's talk about something else.
15:05She is not alone.
15:07Many teachers live in fear.
15:09A single complaint from a patriotic parent can trigger investigations.
15:14There is a woman in St. Petersburg.
15:16Let's call her Marina.
15:17She has been a literature teacher for 20 years.
15:20When ordered to teach about the reunification with Crimea, Marina read Pushkin instead.
15:27If they want propaganda, she said, they can hire someone else.
15:31She was reported, investigated, and reprimanded.
15:35But she is still teaching, and still refusing to participate.
15:40A mother in Perm posted her son's art assignment online.
15:44He was told to draw a tank and write a thank you note to a soldier.
15:49Instead, he drew a field of flowers and wrote,
15:53I hope you can come home soon.
15:55Her post went viral.
15:58The school summoned her.
15:59She refused to apologize.
16:01When anthropologists interviewed teachers and students about these lessons,
16:06two very different realities emerged.
16:08One parent described her daughter's experience this way.
16:12The teacher is young and reasonable.
16:14Yes, she plays the assigned videos, but while they run,
16:18she sits on her phone, checks homework, or works on her laptop.
16:22The kids sit on their phones too, playing games.
16:26She allows it.
16:28My daughter doesn't even remember what was said.
16:30Only rare bits that personally interest her, like something about nature or animals.
16:36But she picks up on the teacher's attitude and adopts the same one.
16:41It becomes a silent agreement between teacher and students.
16:46You show up and sit quietly.
16:48I won't interfere.
16:50Another mother shared a glimpse into how these lessons actually work.
16:55My daughter said that her teacher keeps a rolled-up portrait of Putin above the blackboard.
17:01During their conversations about what matters lessons, the portrait stays rolled up.
17:08But if she hears someone approaching the classroom, maybe the vice-principal,
17:14she quickly pulls the string and the portrait unfurls.
17:18She immediately shifts topics and starts saying something patriotic.
17:23This is how the system operates.
17:26Not through real belief, but through careful performance.
17:30Everyone knows what's expected.
17:33And everyone pretends.
17:35But not everywhere.
17:36Another mother described a much darker reality.
17:40Here it's awful.
17:41More and more patriotic improvisation from teachers.
17:45The children come home and repeat what they've heard.
17:49We must be ready to fight for the motherland.
17:52Russia is better than those miserable countries.
17:55In America, they are still lynching black people.
17:58While our school graduates heroically die near Kursk.
18:02Every Monday, flag rising, white shirts, the anthem, marching drills.
18:08At first, it was harmless.
18:11But after three years of war, it's non-stop Putin and our Donbass.
18:16It's getting harder and harder to explain to the children that all of this is a lie.
18:22This quiet divide between passive indifference and active indecination runs through Russian schools today.
18:34What happens when children aren't taught how to think, but what to think?
18:39The answer is already visible.
18:42The young Russians sent to fight in Ukraine, many just 18 or 19, weren't trained to question orders.
18:49They were trained to follow them.
18:51They were also trained not to see others, anyone from a different tribe, as fully human.
18:58And once your enemy stops being human, anything becomes possible.
19:03We've seen the videos.
19:05Looting, torture, executions, rape.
19:08And when these soldiers are captured by Ukrainians, they often don't even feel guilt or responsibility.
19:15I had orders.
19:17Everybody does it.
19:18They made me.
19:20This is the consequence of years of propaganda.
19:25It teaches that violence in service of the state is noble.
19:29That enemies are subhuman.
19:31That questioning is betrayal.
19:33Even in peacetime, the damage spreads.
19:37Students and teachers learn to self-censor.
19:40Parents warn their kids, don't talk politics with your friends.
19:44Don't ask questions.
19:46An entire generation grows up surrounded by unspoken truths, silent fear, and artificial loyalty.
19:59In Russia, most Western social media are banned.
20:02Facebook, Instagram, ads, YouTube.
20:04So, everything moves to Vkontakte and Telegram.
20:08And for anyone like me trying to understand what's happening inside Russia, these platforms are a gold mine.
20:16Russians love posting anything that might earn them social points, especially if it might please their bosses.
20:24So, I expected to find plenty of examples of conversations about what matters proudly displayed.
20:31And I did find many Vkontakte groups for teachers using that exact title.
20:36But what surprised me most was what was not there.
20:41Instead of war propaganda, most posts feature coloring pages, lesson schedules, drawing prevention posters, or classroom displays for various holidays.
20:52The war is almost invisible.
20:54When you step back and look carefully, you see that this entire patriotic movement has naturally split into three distinct
21:03groups.
21:04First, those cashing in on big federal budgets.
21:09They produce glossy videos with stage locations, child actors, and professional editing.
21:15But there is nothing genuinely talented or inspiring.
21:19Just empty slogans, only this time with better lighting.
21:25Second, the bureaucrats dutifully reporting that lessons were held.
21:30No creativity, no imagination.
21:33Just the same empty rituals I remembered from Soviet schools.
21:37Third, the countryside, especially depressed regions.
21:40Here you find youth military clubs, meetings with veterans, and overt militarization.
21:47For many families, this is seen as the only available social ladder.
21:51While preparing this video, I was reminded again, this is not a cult like Kandastalim.
21:58It is simply a system of orders and budgets, handed down from above.
22:04And the adults adapt however they can.
22:07Some quietly avoid involvement.
22:09Others profit by putting on a show of enthusiasm.
22:13Many simply don't care at all.
22:16Yes, there are fanatics, but they are few.
22:19And they are unlikely to grow because they have nothing new to offer.
22:23No victories, no achievements, nothing that can truly inspire.
22:27But in this cynical game played by adults, it's always the children who suffer.
22:34By the way, I have a separate video about lonely and unhappy women who ended up supporting dictatorships.
22:40Check it out.
22:41It's key to understanding the hidden mechanics behind authoritarian regimes.
22:52I've noticed a very telling pattern.
22:54If you browse school websites in Moscow, St. Petersburg, or the wealthier districts of other major cities,
23:01the focus looks very different.
23:04College admissions, foreign languages, creativity, and personal development.
23:08But in poorer neighborhoods of big cities, the tone shifts.
23:13Schools there work hard to please the authorities.
23:17Announcements from local administrators, state-sponsored contests, and patriotic holidays.
23:24Plenty of flags. Plenty of state symbols.
23:28And when you scroll through the websites and social media pages of schools in small towns and rural regions,
23:34the atmosphere changes completely.
23:37Here, you see open glorification of war.
23:41Meetings with veterans posing with toy rifles, dressed up for patriotic photoshoots.
23:48And the trajectory is crystal clear.
23:52The first group, children from good schools, won't be sent to war.
23:56They'll become officials, specialists, business owners.
24:02The second group, from lower-level urban schools, will fill the state's middle ranks.
24:08Teachers, clerks, minor bureaucrats.
24:11But the third group, the countryside, is being prepared for slaughter.
24:15This war is a tax on the poor and on those far from any functioning social ladder.
24:22In these regions, militarization is not just ideology.
24:26For many families, youth military clubs or patriotic programs offer the only path to recognition,
24:33advancement, or even basic stability.
24:36And this division is not accidental.
24:39The system feeds on inequality.
24:42It preserves privilege for a narrow elite while harvesting loyalty and bodies from everyone else.
24:49That's why propaganda may seem clumsy and hollow in the cities,
24:53but remains dangerously effective where hope is scarce.
24:58If this made you feel something,
25:00if it helped you see propaganda in a new light,
25:03please consider sharing this video.
25:06It helps more than you know.
25:08And if you want to join me for more deep dives into how power,
25:12history, and human psychology shape Russia and the world,
25:16make sure to subscribe.
25:18New videos come out every Sunday and Wednesday.
25:22You can also join my think tank or buy me a coffee using the links below.
25:27Every bit of support helps me make more content like this.
25:31And finally, thank you.
25:34Truly.
25:38Truly.
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