By Murad Rakhimov | 2026-05-26

A Russian teenager opens a new textbook and finds chapters on drone warfare, hand grenade use and the philosophy of The Matrix. Starting this September, basic military training, complete with these materials, becomes mandatory in schools across 10 regions of Russia. In occupied territories, it is already underway.

The first four volumes of the new textbook are available on Russian marketplaces for roughly 5,000 RUB (about $66). The fifth volume, covering hand-to-hand combat, remains in development. Pilot testing began May 1 in the Volgograd region and in Russian-occupied territories, including Crimea.

The textbook was developed by Synergy University on government commission and formally presented in February 2026. Pro-rector Mikhail Kudinov noted that veterans of the elite Alpha and Vympel special forces units participated in its creation, along with specialists active in what Moscow calls the "special military operation" zone. A separate volume on unmanned aerial vehicles was prepared by a drone unit commander who has served since 2014.

A Soviet-era playbook, updated

Basic military training (BMT) first became mandatory in Soviet schools in 1968. Students assembled Kalashnikov rifles, rehearsed nuclear strike protocols, and drilled in formation. The subject all but disappeared during Mikhail Gorbachev's Perestroika era, replaced in 1998 by a discipline called Basics of Life Safety (BLS).

President Vladimir Putin moved to restore BMT in 2005, amending laws on military duty and education to require schools to prepare students for military service. Progress was slow. Then came Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. One year in, BMT was formally folded into the BLS curriculum for senior classes.

Each textbook volume includes historical sections on events in Ukraine and the trajectory of the Russian armed forces -- materials the authors describe as fostering patriotic values. One passage references the 1999 film The Matrix to argue that people can be trapped in illusions, unable to distinguish simulation from reality. The reference struck observers as jarring given Russia's sustained campaign against Western cultural influence. For most Russians under 25, the Wachowski siblings' film is classic cinema, not a cultural touchstone.

"It doesn't work at all"

Experts say the initiative reflects a state attempting to manufacture loyalty through familiar means. Kazakh expert Galym Ageleuov told Kontur the textbook aims to condition students to accept killing as a given, without examining the justice of the cause.

"When prisoners are traded for freedom to participate in war, and everyone is ready to kill for money, I assume this textbook seeks to streamline the involvement of students -- future soldiers -- in armed conflict," he said.

Ageleuov argued that schools should instead teach students to recognize militaristic manipulation and to distinguish a defensive war from a war of conquest.

"Reinforcing imperial 'bonds' and the supposed right to disregard the territorial integrity of neighbors fosters a tradition of conquest," he said. "It creates a derogatory attitude toward others as inferior, non-sovereign states."

Alisher Ilkhamov, director of the London-based Central Asia Due Diligence center, offered a blunter verdict. He told Kontur that the initiative is a relic of the Soviet era, and a failed one.

"I lived in the USSR for over 35 years and I know how it works. And it doesn't work at all," he said, pointing out that decades of Soviet military education culminated in defeat in Afghanistan and the collapse of the Soviet system. "In today's world of the internet and social media, this practice has far less chance of success than it did under the Soviet regime."

Ideology beyond the barracks

Analysts from the Crimean Tatar Resource Center described the textbook as a new stage in state-driven militarization of education and a systematic attempt to impose the occupying state's ideology on children in violation of international law.

"Instead of quality education and the development of critical thinking, children are presented with materials that emphasize propaganda, the glorification of war, and preparation for combat," the center told Kontur.

Russian human rights activist and blogger Alexander Kim said BMT is a symptom of a broader problem. What matters more, he argued, is how humanities subjects -- history, social studies, literature -- are taught.

"Today, these subjects are just as ideologized, and that is what could lead to much more serious consequences than the politicization of BMT," he told Kontur.

Kim also warned of a quality collapse.

"Synergy -- which, as far as I know, has never been taken seriously by the academic community -- may become the symbol of Russian education in the era of the Putin regime," he said.

Beyond ideology, he noted, the "besieged fortress" framing of Russian schooling cultivates hostility toward other nations. Those sentiments, he argued, were visible in Russia well before the war began.