A political education

Putin’s order to appoint political commissars responsible for ‘strengthening patriotism’ in Russian government bodies

In late 2023, the Estonian news agency Delfi Estonia obtained a set of leaked documents from the Russian presidential administration. In the weeks that followed, journalists from Meduza, iStories, and numerous other international outlets studied the documents and used them to conduct investigations into Russian government activity as part of a joint project called Kremlin Leaks. This week, we published several stories based on the leaks: how Kremlin spin doctors are presenting popular movies and TV to Putin as propaganda wins (you can read it here) and how Russian Red Cross employees mocked and humiliated POWs in occupied territories (available here). Our latest story based on the leaks focuses on Putin’s order to appoint political commissars in government bodies to “strengthen patriotism” and “ensure understanding of state policy” among state employees.

Leaked internal documents from the Russian presidential administration revealed the existence of a presidential order numbered 106, which was signed in February 2023 and classified as “for official use only.” This decree orders the creation of “Deputy Heads for Public and Political Affairs” to serve in federal government bodies. These “political commissars” are to be recruited from within government bodies, primarily among currently employed deputies. All candidates must be approved by the presidential administration.

In April 2022, Russian newspaper Kommersant, citing sources in the presidential administration, wrote that the Kremlin came up with the idea to create an institute for political commissars similar to one that existed during the Soviet period. According to the sources, this was in response to “certain government agencies having been found to face problems with loyalty to the authorities’ current actions.” Though Putin’s order only mentions government agencies, Kommersant reported that these political commissars may also appear in state-owned companies.

Meduza and iStories found the corresponding methodological recommendations “for organizing and conducting public and political work” on the Federal Agency for the Management of Natural Resources’ website. The recommendations say:

The challenging geopolitical circumstances in the world, threats to security and independence made by countries unfriendly toward the Russian Federation, [and] the ongoing special military operation requires state authorities to conduct systematic and effective work to form and maintain exceptional moral, political, and psychological abilities among government officials and employees, a sense of responsibility for the fate of the Fatherland, strengthen patriotism and Russian civic identity, ensure a deep understanding of, and support for, the Russian state’s international and domestic policies.

The document continues: in order to achieve “strengthened patriotism,” a comprehensive set of “educational events” will be conducted with the agency’s employees (including meetings with veterans of the war in Ukraine). Throughout the course of these events, they promise to:

• “Promptly inform employees about the military-political situation in the country and around the world,” and
• “conduct educational work on the study of Russian history, stages in the development of its international policies, history of wars and military conflicts, formation and establishment of Russian statehood.”

This is all intended to help “fill gaps or expand the depth of employees’ knowledge in the area of history, military history, and politics.” This is certain to “create a noticeable barrier against deliberately distorted ideological intervention carried out by mass media controlled and financed by states unfriendly toward Russia.”

The Kremlin leak also included a document about “public and political work” in the Russian Education Ministry and the universities under its control (the same document describes the work of the Integration production center, another one of the Kremlin’s propaganda structures.)

Carrying out Putin’s order on appointing political commissars will entail:

• Forming a database “of Russian Ministry of Science and Higher Education employees who meet the relevant criteria with the goal of ensuring they participate in elections at various levels”;
• Organizing “monitoring of political attitudes and electoral preferences” of teachers and students;
• And holding “meetings with experts on current issues in science and education policies and significant public and political events” to “increase the level of public and political literacy among employees at the Russian Ministry of Science and Higher Education.”

The authors of this story were able to speak with the employees of several federal agencies at the same time. Sources in the Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Finance, and the State Courier Service reported that, so far, there aren’t any “Deputy Heads for Public and Political Affairs.” One source participating in government meetings noted that these deputies have already been appointed in other government bodies — and have been telling bureaucrats that “they need to discuss” the war and domestic politics.

This has been confirmed by open-source reports: in the past few months, many agencies announced their successes in the field of “public and political work.” Employees in the Federal Service for State Registration, Cadastre, and Cartography have attended lectures about “the goals and objectives of the special operation,” collected humanitarian aid for the military, and woven camouflage netting. Employees of the Federal Agency for Fishery, meanwhile, have posted to social media about work “in the sphere of patriotic education,” and workers at the Customs Service have laid flowers at memorials to those who were killed by the “German fascist invaders.”

Reporting by Maria Zholobova (iStories) and Svetlana Reiter (Meduza). Translation by Sasha Slobodov.