In the new educational manual of the Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration titled "Fundamentals of Russian Statehood," which is set to be introduced into the curriculum of humanitarian universities in Russia starting from September of this year, abortions, veganism, and childfree lifestyle have been labeled as the "cult of death." This was pointed out by Verstka.
The authors of the manual, including Sergey Perevezentsev, a faculty member of the political science department at Moscow State University and an advocate of Orthodox understanding of history, suggest that students reconsider concepts such as abortion, veganism, childfree lifestyle, and euthanasia, which are referred to in the manual as "values promoted by the West."
They argue that the aim of these values is to achieve "physical immortality of humans through gradual transformation of the natural human into a bio-object devoid of individual physical and sexual characteristics, spiritual and moral qualities."
The authors of the textbook assert that abortions, childfree ideas, euthanasia, and veganism constitute a "cult of death," which is being imposed on Russians by "ultraliberal ideologues."
In contrast, they propose to oppose this "ideology" with "traditional values," including faith (spirituality), the state, unified history, national traditions, the Russian language, self-restraint, stability, sovereignty, and industriousness.
The textbook presents politics and history from the perspective of confrontation with the West. For instance, the authors criticize Peter the Great for what they see as his "reckless reverence for everything Western and non-Russian" during his reign. Vladimir Putin is compared to Joseph Stalin in the manual, with both leaders being referred to as politicians under whom the country was strong and respected on the international stage.
The subject "Fundamentals of Russian Statehood" has become mandatory in Russian universities starting from the 2023-2024 academic year, and first-year students will be required to take an exam in this subject. A series of instructional films under the collective title "DNA of Russia" has been created for this educational course. These films claim that modern Russia is the only country in the world that is combating Nazism. They also assert that the "Russian civilization" has a millennia-old history and its own path, that the Russian language is suppressed in Baltic countries, and that the "Russian peace" has no boundaries.
In January 2023, Vladimir Putin instructed the Ministry of Education and Science to develop and include the module "Fundamentals of Russian Statehood" in the general education programs. The legal framework for this initiative was prepared through amendments to the Constitution and a decree outlining Russia's national development goals until 2030
