Head of Russian peace negotiation delegations convicted over anti-Ukrainian textbook
Vladimir Medinsky, head of Russian delegations at peace negotiations, has been sentenced by a Ukrainian court to ten years in prison with confiscation of property for encroachment on the territorial integrity and inviolability of Ukraine and for 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 aggression as a component of its war against Ukraine. This concerns not merely individual propaganda statements or publications but a coordinated state mechanism that prepares Russian society for war, justifies the occupation of Ukrainian territories, mobilisation, war crimes and attempts to destroy Ukrainian identity.
One result of this work is the guilty verdict against Vladimir Medinsky and Anatoly Torkunov, editors of the Russian 11th-grade textbook History. History of Russia. 1945 to the early 21st century, published in Russia in 2023.
The Shevchenkivskyi District Court of the city of Kyiv sentenced each of them to 10 years in prison with confiscation of property."
Details: The investigators reported that this textbook became one of the instruments of Russian information policy in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine. Its content contains public calls to change the borders and state boundary of Ukraine, justifies Russia's armed aggression and the temporary occupation of Ukrainian territories and instills in pupils a distorted, ideologically driven perception of recent historical events.
The Office of the Prosecutor General notes that Russia directs particular attention towards children – one of the most vulnerable categories of the population in the occupied territories. Through educational materials, they are instilled with narratives about 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.
From 1 September 2023, the textbook was used in the educational process in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine – in Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson oblasts and the Autonomous Republic of Crimea. It was also distributed on Russian territory.
Ukrainian prosecutors proved in court the guilt of Medinsky and Torkunov in committing crimes under Article 110.2 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine – encroachment on the territorial integrity and inviolability of Ukraine – and Article 436-2.3 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine – justifying and recognising as lawful Russia's armed aggression against Ukraine and glorifying its participants.
This verdict is noted to be part of the broader work of Ukraine's law enforcement agencies to counter Russia's information aggression. Investigations are continuing.
For reference: Vladimir Medinsky, a 55-year-old Russian state official of Ukrainian origin and a native of the city of Smila in Cherkasy Oblast, usually heads Russia's negotiating delegations on settling Russia's war with Ukraine.
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