A map in the new social studies textbook edited by Medvedev shows Kherson and Mala Tokmachka as captured

A map in the new social studies textbook edited by Medvedev shows Kherson and Mala Tokmachka as captured

The new 9th-grade social studies textbook edited by Deputy Chairman of the Security Council Dmitry Medvedev describes Russia as a "leader of the new world order," talks about the dangers of social networks and messengers, and mentions the war in Ukraine only in passing. Verstka studied the digitized version of the textbook, which appeared in VK teacher communities.

The textbook opens with a map of the Russian Federation in 2025 where, in addition to the annexed territories, the city of Kherson is shown within Russia's borders — it is marked with a red dot alongside other "regional centers."

As Verstka noted, the Russian Federation includes the entirety of Ukraine's Donetsk and Zaporizhzhia regions, including territories that are not occupied. Among them, for example, is the village of Mala Tokmachka, where fighting has been going on for more than 1,500 days, and the capital of Zaporizhzhia region, the city of Zaporizhzhia — unlike Kherson, it is not marked on the map.

In the chapter on the emergence of the state, in the "Interesting" subsection, the authors quote Putin's joke that "Russia's borders never end anywhere."

"There is a grain of truth in every joke," the textbook authors comment. "Russia is the largest country in the world by territory, the Russian language is one of the UN's official languages, and the Russian world is global in nature. For example, 300,000 of our compatriots live in Latin America alone."

Read about what else the textbook says, from which schoolchildren will study starting in September this year, on the Verstka website (with VPN):

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