In 2015, one of the most important educational reforms of Putin's day in the field of historical science in the Russian high school was implemented. In the area of Russian foreign policy, this reform was preceded by the annexation of Crimea and the war in the Donbas, while in domestic politics, this reform is a manifestation of the militarization of the historical consciousness of Russian society and a consequence of increasing authoritarianism. The increasing share of siloviki in the structures of power negatively affects Russian historical science, limiting its freedom. The authorities, in their opinion, only promote the correct, even canonical, version of Russian history.
The above-mentioned issues directly affect the historical policy of the authorities in the field of historical education, among others the authorities are trying to "unify" the version of national history, removing difficult and embarrassing moments from it. One manifestation of this process is the introduction of a uniform line of history textbooks for secondary schools. Only three publishing lines whose textbooks have undergone the "standardization" process have been approved for circulation.
With the above in mind, the question arises: how was the history of Ukraine presented in them? And did the reform and attempts to impose one historical narrative, additionally in the face of the Russian-Ukrainian war, influenced the way Ukraine and its history are presented in new textbooks?
During the speech, the main components of the Russian textbook narrative about the history of Ukraine will be presented, including: the myth of Kievan Rus, the Pereyaslav Agreement, the myth of Malorossiya, the concept of "Three Brotherly Nations". In addition, the author will also address the issue of three, in her opinion the most important, historical clichés through the prism of which the history of Ukraine is still presented in Russia: the civilization concept of identity, Hegelianism and state-centrism. The author will also try to outline the historical background and refer to the tradition of tsarist and Soviet historiography, which in her opinion is of considerable importance. This is because it allows us to present possible changes, or their lack, in the current Russian historical narrative, and at the same time to explain the genesis of certain historical myths functioning in Russian historiography.
In order to present the above-mentioned main components of the Russian historical textbook narrative about Ukraine, the author will analyze the textbooks of three publishing lines currently used by teachers in schools: Drofa, Russkoye Slovo and Prosveshcheniye.
