Students across Russia took a history quiz this month that included watching excerpts of President Vladimir Putin’s interview with U.S. commentator Tucker Carlson, according to social media posts from many schools.

Putin began the two-hour interview in February, telling Carlson about half an hour of Russia’s history since 862, arguing that Ukraine had no tradition of independent statehood – a view Kiev rejected as is wrong and selfish.

In a post on Russian social media platform VK, the school described the quiz as an “intellectual game” that helps children understand “the stages of development of the Russian state” and said it was both fun and enlightening.

In some cases, only children as young as 6 or 7 appeared to be participating. A school in Rostov in southern Russia said students in grades 1 to 11 watched part of the interview and then answered age-appropriate questions.

Domodedovskaya Grammar School released a news release saying that after 11 rounds of tests, the children were tasked with thinking about questions to send to Putin. The statement said that since this is a national event, “unfortunately not everyone will receive a reply from the president, but we remain hopeful!”

Reuters sent requests for comment to eight principals and school teachers who attended the event. So far, none of them have responded.

The quiz was first reported by Ne Norma, a volunteer association that tracks how the worldview supporting Putin’s invasion of Ukraine is instilled in Russian children.

Dmitry Tsibiryov, a spokesman for the project, said it was not appropriate to show Carlson’s interview to children given the “massive publicity coverage” it generated in state media. strangeness.

It’s unclear which clips were used in the quiz. Carlson was criticized after the interview for failing to put enough pressure on the Kremlin leader, and even Putin said he wanted to ask tougher questions.

The multiple-choice questions were designed to reinforce Putin’s views. For example, children were asked to know that the word “Ukrainian” in the 13th century could refer to border guards or people living in border areas, but not to residents of the country Ukraine.

Zibilev said the test was just one example of a wider overhaul of the curriculum since the outbreak of the war, which included the introduction of special courses called “Important Dialogues” that were often devoted to patriotic themes. Such programs sometimes take the form of visits to schools by soldiers and veterans.

Ne Norma has previously publicized cases of children making items such as trench candles and camouflage netting and sending them to Ukrainian soldiers.

Last October, it published a photo of kindergarten children wearing soldier hats posing in front of a screen, quoting the 18th-century general Alexander Suvorov: “The appearance of a warrior must instill fear in the enemy.”

Putin told Russians it was important to unite as the country is mired in war in Ukraine and faces what he calls an existential threat from the West. Last year, Kremlin aide Vladimir Medinsky published four new history textbooks for 16- to 18-year-olds that reflect Putin’s views on the collapse of the Soviet Union and the causes of the conflict in Ukraine.

The education system is increasingly being used as a propaganda tool aimed at “recruiting new participants, new volunteers for the war,” Zibilev said in a telephone interview.

“At best, it’s a useless waste of time,” Tsibilev said. “The main harm it does is injecting this false sense of patriotism…These beliefs may stay with children for a long time to come, even if they are not directly involved in the war.”