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Russian State Duma is trying to pass the law that will severely limit the interaction between Russian and international researchers and curtail opportunities for scholars to share their work with the public. 1/n #СвободуНауке
I believe this legislation targets most of all Arts and Humanities, History field in particular, as Putin's government is trying to impose its own 'patriotic' narrative of Russian history that justifies their authoritarian policies and 'Cold War' view of the world. 2/n
Military history, especially of the #WW2 is often used by them as a source of justification of Russia's martial prowess and superiority over the West. Russian state has created and funded two proxy-NGOs that promote this 'patriotic' view of history via film ... 3/n
...fiction and non-fiction literature. They often target schoolchildren, organise 'patriotic' historical events and fund school trips to museums and memorials that they interpret in a rigid 'patriotic' way, suppressing any discussion on Russia's military past 4/n
One of these NGOs is Russian Society for Military History headed by the former Minister of culture Medinsky. Society funded a film on 'Panfilov's 28 Men' - an episode from Battle for Moscow in December 1941, whose authenticity is highly contested, but which was widely used.. 5/n
...by Soviet propaganda. The First World War and other military conflicts are not exempt from the Society influence and attention. Any narrative that questions the infallibility of Russian soldier is virtually banned at the Society's events, even more academic ones 6/n
Russian scholars of military history did not contest the government influence in the public history field, but they still had an opportunity to share their research between themselves, share with the public and their international colleagues. 7/n
The new legislation strips them of this opportunity. If passed and implemented, it can gag the discussion about complex issues of Russian history altogether and bring international cooperation of Russian historians to a halt. 8/n
