Washing young brains in Murmansk. Vladimir Medinsky came to town
During his visit to the far northern region, the Kremlin spin doctor and school textbook writer met with representatives of the local Military-Historical Society and visited a militant youth center.
“It is a pity that none of this existed when I myself was a school kid,” Vladimir Medinsky said during his visit to the center Na Severe Zhit’ (“Live in the North”) in downtown Murmansk.
The former minister of culture that now serves as special adviser in the administration of Vladimir Putin, was shown around in the premises by regional governor Andrei Chibis. On display were weapons and military gear used for training of school kids and teenagers in the region, as well as Ukrainian “trophies” from areas occupied by Russia. Medinsky also met leaders of the militant youth organization Voin.
The Kremlin representative praised the work of the experienced Voin instructors, Chibis writes in a post on his Telegram channel.
The two men are long-time friends, and Medinsky has several times been in Murmansk. On the 23rd of February 2022, the day before Moscow’s full-scale onslaught on Ukraine, the Kremlin adviser was in town where he laid down flowers at the main local war memorial.
As the Russian war machine was making its latest preparations for attack, Medinsky delivered a speech in Murmansk where he underlined that “it is unfortunately hard to find a country that to such a big extent wants peace [as Russia].”
The center Na Severe Zhit’ was established by Andrei Chibis in 2023 and is supported by Vladimir Medinsky and his Military-Historical Society.
The two organizations closely cooperate and Governor Chibis reportedly serves as chairman of the regional branch of the Military-Historical Society.
“We are actively promoting military-patriotic education of young northerners in Murmansk region,” Chibis explained, and underlined that the Center will continue to “grow and expand."
During the visit, Medinsky held a lecture for teenagers at the center. He also took part in the inauguration ceremony for Chibis who this month was re-elected regional leader.
Vladimir Medinsky is known as a hardline nationalist and one of the architects of the Kremlin’s current propaganda machinery. He praises Russia’s imperial past and promotes its expansionist future.
He grew up in a military family, and his father reportedly took part in the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968, as well as Afghanistan in 1979.
He is a doctor in political science from MGIMO, the university run by the Foreign Ministry and later also in history, and for several years worked as a journalist. He started his political career in the late 1990s and since 2012 he has been working closely with Vladimir Putin.
Medinsky was instrumental in the establishment of the Military-Historical Society in 2012.
Over the years, he has published a number of controversial books and made numerous flagrant statements about Russian history and the country’s place in the world.
He is the author of several textbooks that now are used in Russian schools, as well as on occupied Ukrainian land. The books praise Vladimir Putin and his repressive and imperial ambitions for the country and serve as ideological brainwashing of Russian kids.
