Translated material
No "coffins"
Sovereign AI, candies with Putin quotes, North Korean exhibitions—and other cultural triggers for October
Photo: Moscow Agency
Russian President Vladimir Putin demanded the creation of “sovereign artificial intelligence models” based on traditional values in Russia.
“Only by relying on our culture, history, linguistic wealth, traditions and traditional values, will we be able to create sovereign models of artificial intelligence, and not copy other people’s solutions,” he said at a meeting of the XVII Congress of the Russian Geographical Society.
According to him, copying leads to “technological and ideological dependence.” “Ultimately, it will lead to the loss of sovereignty,” Putin added.
In addition, he supported the re-election of Sergei Shoigu as president of the Russian Geographical Society and proposed declaring 2027 the Year of Geography in Russia.
Earlier, Shoigu said that by 2028, Russia should develop a fundamentally new geography textbook, which “will form a new generation of citizens with deep knowledge about their country and the world, as well as a developed sense of patriotism.”
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Special Representative of the President of the Russian Federation Kirill Dmitriev brought chocolates with quotes from Putin to the United States. “Chocolates as a gift as part of the Russia-USA dialogue, New York,” he wrote.
RT showed photos of all the candies. On the candy wrappers, in particular, are printed Putin’s statements that “Russia’s borders do not end anywhere,” that “if a fight is inevitable, you must strike first,” and that “Russia is not afraid of anything.”
“The Great Words of a Great Man candies show that it is important to conduct a dialogue with Russia,” noted the special representative of the president.
Press Secretary of the Russian President Dmitry Peskov said that the candies with Putin’s quotes brought to the United States were Dmitriev’s personal choice.
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Russia and North Korea continue to strengthen cooperation, including in the cultural sphere. In early October, Pyongyang was visited by Deputy Chairman of the Russian Security Council Dmitry Medvedev, who laid baskets of flowers at the statues of Comrade Kim Il Sung and Comrade Kim Jong Il. Medvedev brought Kim Jong-un an archival letter from his grandfather to Stalin. “I arrived for the 80th anniversary of the Workers' Party of Korea. Time is ticking. Friends together. The enemies are tense,” Medvedev wrote (quoted by TASS).
On the occasion of the holiday, a gala concert of Russian performers took place in Pyongyang. In particular, singer Yaroslav Dronov (Shaman) performed on the stage of the Mansudae Art Theater, who even canceled part of his concerts in the Russian Federation for the sake of performing in Pyongyang. At the concert, he performed a song about Kim Jong-un. “Comrade Kim Jong-un, comrade Kim Jong-un, he is leading Korea forward. And all the people walk in step with him, and in step with him,” the chorus says.
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Meanwhile, Russia hosts many exhibitions on North Korea. In particular, the Russian National Library opened the exhibition “Kim Il Sung and his family.” The exhibition features a biography of Kim Il Sung's wife, archival posters and paintings.
Before this, an exhibition about North Korean socialist realism was held in Moscow. The media noted that the contemporary art of North Korea is mainly scenes from the life of workers and battle paintings with soldiers liberating the Kursk region, says one of the Russian-language media banned in Russia. “The titles of the series of portraits of Korean military equipment are poetic: “The Rumble of the Iron Horse”, “The Sword of Justice”, “Crushing Fire Peals”, “We Are Only Waiting for the Order”.
However, there was also a place for happy peasants, fishermen, miners, schoolchildren and families, as well as landscapes with resorts that delighted visitors.
The publication also provides entries in the guest book: “We’ll definitely come see you!”, admiration for the “multifaceted original art,” as well as words of gratitude to “the brotherly Korean people for their help in moments of military danger.”
One exhibition closed and another immediately opened - at the Victory Museum called “Shoulder to Shoulder”, which is dedicated to the friendship between Russia and the DPRK. The exhibition includes several thematic sections. Historical sections are devoted to the liberation of Korea by Soviet troops in 1945, assistance to the USSR during the Korean War of 1950-1953. A separate block talks about the period of “ideological brotherhood,” and the central element of the exhibition is the “Sacred Mission” section, covering the period from 2000 to the present. Here are works by Korean artists dedicated to the current stage of relations, including paintings “For the liberation of the Kursk region”, “In the same trench” and others. Among the key exhibits is a copy of the composition “Combat Brotherhood of Russia and the DPRK,” the museum notes.
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They want to immerse modern schoolchildren in the educational process of the times of the Great Patriotic War by introducing them to a slide rule and a fountain pen.
According to the Daily Storm, this was stated by Deputy Head of the Russian Presidential Administration for Public Projects Alexander Zhuravsky.
“We now have a largely poor idea of how the school functioned and what a fountain pen and inkwell were for. Everyone already has an automatic pen, everything is already in the cartridge, the ink. The children don’t know how to refuel,” Zhuravsky noted.
Zhuravsky is confident that immersing children in the educational process of the war and post-war times of the last century will allow them to understand how our ancestors lived and studied, as well as “learn from the lessons of history and learn to understand themselves,” reports the Daily Storm.
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Chairman of the State Duma Committee on the Development of Civil Society, Issues of Public and Religious Associations Yana Lantratova proposed introducing mandatory psychological examination of children's toys. The corresponding bill was discussed in the State Duma at a round table on the topic “Toys as a channel for hidden propaganda.”
“A toy is a model of the world that we give to children. Today it often becomes a tool of hybrid warfare. It instills alien values and separates children from their love for the Motherland. We must return good toys to children that foster friendship and patriotism,” Lantratova emphasized, as quoted by TASS.
For her part, the first deputy head of the committee for family protection, issues of paternity, motherhood and childhood, Tatyana Butskaya, spoke about “blue monsters” and “monsters with smiles.” “We have social and sanitary expertise, but no psychological or pedagogical expertise. And this leads to the fact that in just one month, sales of these blue monsters increase a million times. Monsters with a smile increase another million times. I specifically don’t mention their names, because every time we go to the high podium and say their names, we advertise them,” said Butskaya (quoted by RBC).
According to the deputy, as a result of the work that is planned to be carried out to combat destructive toys, there will be no “coffins” or “a head that jumps out of the toilet” on the shelves of children's stores.
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On the eve of Halloween, Russia traditionally spent the entire month of October celebrating this holiday. The Groza publication reports that Moscow State University students were banned from “any attributes” of Halloween. First-year students of the Faculty of Journalism received a message about this. “The email states that the university prohibits “any paraphernalia” associated with Halloween, including “costumes and makeup.” The students were promised a reprimand for them,” writes Groza.
For his part, deputy of the Bryansk Regional Duma and head of the Orthodox Russia movement, Mikhail Ivanov, called for equating Halloween with the propaganda of the “Satanism movement” banned in the Russian Federation*. This initiative was supported by State Duma deputy Vitaly Milonov, who believes that we are talking primarily about a pagan holiday, which can be attributed to a form of sectarianism. He advised those wishing to celebrate this date to register a religious organization with the Ministry of Justice and declare themselves “hereditary Druids.”
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The head of the Yakutsk Public Chamber, Matvey Lytkin, suspected the Wolf from “Well, wait a minute!” and Crocodile Gene in a conspiracy to benefit the West due to their addiction to tobacco.
Speaking on the Yakutia 24 TV channel, he expressed the opinion that in such cartoons as “Well, wait a minute!” and “Crocodile Gena” contain elements of “subconscious programming” of the Russian population. “We noticed that in “Well, wait a minute!” The Wolf smokes, but in reality he does not smoke, the Wolf has never smoked. Crocodile Gena - why does he have this pipe? This is all subconscious programming of our population. Apparently, the collective West cannot sleep to seize Russia’s mineral resources,” said Lytkin.
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Writer Oleg Roy proposed limiting screenings of the cartoon “Masha and the Bear” to the 12+ category. He believes that this work is not intended for a children's audience. The State Duma considered this to be too much.
“The Masha and the Bear project is a wonderful cartoon that I really love. But, in my opinion, he is absolutely mature: the main character commits controversial actions,” Roy said in a conversation with TASS.
Earlier, public figure Vadim Popov called for stopping broadcasting the cartoon on television and removing it from streaming platforms. According to the social activist, “such a product cannot be shown to children” because “it contains a scattering of harmful meanings that contradict traditional Russian values.”
Currently, the cartoon has no age limit: it is in the 0+ category.