Russia's chief negotiator in peace talks convicted over anti-Ukrainian textbook

Vladimir Medinsky, who has headed the Russian delegations at peace negotiations, has been sentenced by a Ukrainian court to ten years in prison with confiscation of his assets on charges of encroachment on the territorial integrity and inviolability of Ukraine and justifying Russia's armed aggression.

Source: Office of the Prosecutor General press service

Quote: "The Office of the Prosecutor General provides procedural oversight in proceedings relating to Russia's information-based aggression as a component of its war against Ukraine. This applies not only to individual propaganda statements or publications, but to the coordinated state mechanism that prepares Russian society for war and justifies the occupation of Ukrainian territories, mobilisation, war crimes, and attempts to destroy Ukrainian identity.

One result of this work is the guilty verdict issued against Vladimir Medinsky and Anatoly Torkunov, editors of the Russian 11th-grade textbook History. The History of Russia from 1945 to the early 21st century, published in Russia in 2023.

The Shevchenkivskyi District Court in the city of Kyiv has sentenced each of them to 10 years' imprisonment with confiscation of their assets."

Details: The investigators reported that this textbook has become a tool of Russia's information policy in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine. It contains calls to change the borders and state boundary of Ukraine, justifies Russia's armed aggression and the temporary occupation of Ukrainian territories, and instils in students a distorted, ideologically driven perception of recent historical events.

The Office of the Prosecutor General notes that Russia is paying particular attention to children – one of the most vulnerable sections of the population in the occupied territories. Through educational materials, they are being force-fed narratives about the so-called "brotherly peoples", denial of Ukraine's independence as a state, "liberation" through the so-called "special military operation", and Russia's version of the war against Ukraine.

The textbook has been used in schools in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine – in Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson oblasts and the Autonomous Republic of Crimea – since 1 September 2023. It has also been distributed in Russian territory.

Ukrainian prosecutors proved in court that Medinsky and Torkunov are guilty of committing crimes under Article 110.2 (encroachment on the territorial integrity and inviolability of Ukraine) and Article 436-2.3 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (justifying and legitimising Russia's armed aggression against Ukraine and glorifying its participants).

This verdict is part of the broader work being done by Ukraine's law enforcement agencies to counter Russia's information war. The investigations continue.

For reference: Vladimir Medinsky, 55, is a Russian state official of Ukrainian origin, originally from Smila, a city in Cherkasy Oblast. He usually heads the Russian delegations at negotiations on settling Russia's war with Ukraine.

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