ANATOMY OF PROPAGANDA: TOP 3 EVENTS OF THE WEEK

Kremlin representatives are not even trying to deny the decisions that would have been criticized in the past, thanks to the authorities' high level of declared support. Russian schoolchildren are now being actively prepared for war, accordingly the updated school curriculum, while major foreign internet services are being squeezed out of the country. However, government officials are no longer attempting to deny these actions as they did before.

"Dmitry Peskov, The Kremlin's Press Secretary, stated that the current military time in Russia requires censorship. 'Yes, the present time is very severe. The military demands harsh measures from the authorities (...). I believe that, certainly, during the military time there should be a certain censorship and certain rules that would be unacceptable in normal, peaceful time, but now they must be an obligatory attribute,' he said."

The Russian government has announced that a new school subject called "Fundamentals of Security and Homeland Defense" will be introduced by September 1, 2024. The subject will include modern military combat and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) in its curriculum. This move is seen as part of the Kremlin's ongoing efforts to militarize Russian society. Russian Minister of Education Sergey Kravtsov has been advocating the introduction of this subject to prepare schoolchildren for military combat.

Google has been fined again for refusing to comply with Russian data localization laws. A judge in Moscow recently imposed an administrative fine of 15 million rubles on the company. Moreover, on November 23, the Tagansky Court of Moscow postponed the consideration of protocols under which Google is accused of repeatedly failing to remove prohibited content. The company now faces the threat of a turnover fine. This is not the first time Google has faced such fines in Russia. Since the end of 2021, the company has been fined twice for a total of more than 29 billion rubles.