By Olha Hembik | 2025-11-13

WARSAW -- The next generation of Russian students may soon be tested not on math or science but on their love for the homeland, respect for tradition and moral purity.

Russia is developing a new app to measure how deeply young people embrace "traditional spiritual and moral values," Russian media reported end of September. The digital tool will quiz students on topics ranging from patriotism and civic duty to cultural customs such as the kokoshnik, the ornate headdress often seen as a symbol of Russian femininity, and the balalaika, a staple of folk music.

The app will feature multiple-choice and open-ended questions divided into five tracks: educational, patriotism and civic-mindedness, ethical norms and rules of conduct, cultural and spiritual traditions, and community focus. A behavioral indicator will also influence scores.

Raising patriots

The Education Ministry's long-term strategy through 2036 emphasizes "raising and educating patriots and professionals who safeguard traditions and shape the future," the state news agency TASS reported.

The web app will collect and analyze students' answers, storing the results on a dashboard that tracks individual performance. Students can take the test on their phones.

A similar questionnaire once appeared on the Russia–Land of Opportunity presidential platform, intended to form "the basis for establishing an effective youth policy in the higher education system," TASS reported.

Artur Kuchaev, who oversees the Competence Centers initiative, has said the new testing will help universities and employers better understand young specialists' motivations and tailor educational programs accordingly.

Critics see a darker side. Opposition blogger Prof. Preobrazhensky warned on X in September that students who "fail the test on traditional values" could be denied jobs, education loans or even mortgages.

Dying for the homeland

Patriotism sits at the core of Russia's official "traditional spiritual and moral values," which the Kremlin says unite society and the state, according to Save Ukraine. The nonprofit has repatriated 980 Ukrainian children taken to Russia illegally. The group says those children were subjected to propaganda and "Russified" to become "Russian soldiers for the war against Ukraine and the West."

One of the main instruments for this indoctrination is the Youth Army Cadets National Movement, a state-funded program that trains children in military discipline. The organization received 1 billion RUB (about $12.2 million) in government funding this year.

Save Ukraine said October 27 that 17 children and teenagers recently rescued from occupied Ukrainian territories described new evidence of Russia's war crimes.

Press officer Marina Ostapenko told Kontur that a 17-year-old boy named Nikita from the Zaporizhzhia region was forced into a "military camp" near Melitopol, where he spent days assembling rifles and drones, digging trenches and conducting mock raids.

Ostapenko said Nikita's parents could not prevent his participation because such training was mandatory.

"They threatened him that without a 'certificate' from the camp he wouldn't get a school diploma," she said.

The militarization of education is spreading nationwide. Beginning in 2026, Russian schools will expand lessons on "spiritual and moral values," emphasizing loyalty to the homeland -- and the readiness to die for it.

Propaganda and religion

Russia formally codified its "traditional spiritual and moral values" in 2022 through a presidential decree establishing the Fundamentals of State Policy to Preserve and Strengthen Traditional Russian Spiritual and Moral Values.

The document defines faith as "the priority of the spiritual over the material" and highlights the Orthodox Church's "special role" in shaping those values, while noting that other religions have also influenced them.

Mykhailo Strelnikov, founder of the Museum of Victory over Despotism in Poland, questioned the sincerity of linking faith to state ideology.

"It's hard to talk about faith and values if a priest in the Russian church is urging people to go fight and kill, and saying that this pleases God," he told Kontur.

He cited the Main Cathedral of the Russian Armed Forces near Moscow as a striking example of the fusion of religion and propaganda. The cathedral's dimensions correspond to the date of Germany's World War II surrender. Its walls are adorned with military scenes, including a bronze relief glorifying the mythic Panfilov's 28 Guardsmen -- a group of Soviet soldiers celebrated for allegedly dying while stopping German tanks outside Moscow in 1941, a story later exposed as a fabrication of wartime propaganda.

"One entrance of this cathedral is like dropping into the underworld -- the only thing missing is Satan," Strelnikov said, adding that even some Russians find it eerie.

He compared the militarization of religion in modern Russia to the medieval era, when priests fought in wars, noting, "Now not a single country besides Russia has the luxury of doing something like that."

A tool for the government

Strelnikov said Russian students are likely to complete the new "values" test without question, even when asked deeply personal questions.

"If we're talking about Russian values, the main one is, what will the person in charge say?" he said. "For Russians, what is important is what the czar will say."

He described this deference to authority as a way for individuals to avoid personal responsibility.

Strelnikov argued that the Kremlin uses "traditional values" as a political tool to unite the public, adding that Russian patriotism "often has an imperial character," where state interests outweigh individual rights.

"I'm just one little person -- nothing depends on me," he said, calling that mindset deeply ingrained in Russian society.

Serhii Hodlevsky, a Ukrainian historian and border officer, said outsiders misunderstand Russia when they judge it through Western or Ukrainian standards.

"These are two different worlds and a different worldview," he told Kontur, noting that Russian culture has long been shaped by Asian influences.

"For the Russians, human life isn't the main value," Hodlevsky said. He warned that efforts to measure students' "spiritual and moral values" serve to entrench authoritarian control.

"This isn't breeding love for the homeland. It's an ideological tool for the government."