March 22, 2026

Secondary Status of the Unified State Exam, 'Foreign Agents,' and 'Special Military Operation' Heroes: The Curator of Unified History Textbooks from the Presidential Administration Gives a Programmatic Interview

Vladislav Kononov, Executive Secretary of the State Series of History Textbooks and Advisor to the Presidential Administration, gave an interview to 'Kommersant,' in which he answered questions about the 'ideology' of the unified textbook. Key statements include: Different series of history textbooks 'were profitable for publishing lobbies.' The variability of textbooks 'harms the unity of the educational space.' 'We have no other history, just as each of us has no other parents and cannot have them. We have no alternative multiplication table.' Starting next academic year, a unified state series of history textbooks will be implemented universally. Four history textbooks for high school 'were created in three months.' 'The first textbooks were sincerely and fiercely criticized only by foreign agents. Well, predominantly foreign agents.' 'No factual errors were found in the textbooks.' However, constant editing of textbooks is normal. 'This process is, in a good sense, endless.' The Unified State Exam is secondary to the content of the academic subject. 'The exam is not keeping up with the textbook. It will be reconfigured.' For those children who answered incorrectly on the Unified State Exam due to the textbook, 'there are appeals, there are various ways to prove their point of view.' The federal program for history, with which the textbooks do not align, is also secondary in his opinion: 'The program requires refinement. This is the responsibility of the Ministry of Education.' 'Ultimately, a moment will come when there will be no more contradictions, and everything will correspond to everything.' Medinsky's programmatic article is the 'theoretical basis' for the state textbooks. 'The entire ideological context of the textbooks is to treat the fatherland's past with respect and love. If you start hating the country's history, you have no future as its citizen.' 'There is a clear, understandable criterion for evaluating a statesman: what he inherited at the beginning of his rule and what he left at the end. If Gorbachev became the head of the Soviet empire, and then the empire ceased to exist, then judge for yourself.' 'The last decades have not yet become history,' but 'in history lessons, an understanding of what is happening right now should be provided': 'What might [a parent] disagree with there? With the goals and objectives of the special military operation? Why should a viewpoint different from the state's be broadcast in a state school?' An obligatory history exam for everyone is not needed, but if you want to study humanities, 'take not this synthetic social studies, but a history exam.'