Simonyan, Putin, and the 17 Traditional Values

The last propaganda lesson of the school year under the Conversations About Important Things program has taken place in Russian schools. It focused on “the values that unite us.” Over the 2024–2025 academic year, students attended 34 such sessions — almost all centered around themes like “love for the Motherland,” “heroic ancestors,” and war. The final lesson was no exception.

At the heart of the class was a 40-minute episode of propagandist Margarita Simonyan’s show Just as Expected, in which she recounts the course of the Great Patriotic War using archival footage, film excerpts, and emotional rhetoric about “heroism.”

Students were asked to reflect on “what it means to be a patriot,” list “values associated with patriotism,” recall national heroes, and “realize the spiritual superiority over the material.”

According to the lesson script, the teacher was expected to list values such as: “The unity of the peoples of Russia in resisting the enemy, creative labor, mutual assistance, mutual respect, and the collectivism of the home front workers...”

The lesson authors claim that Russia upholds “17 traditional Russian spiritual and moral values,” including Patriotism, Service to the Fatherland, Strong Family, Creative Labor, Collectivism, and Historical Memory, among others (as shown in the visual materials).

As for the topic of freedom — it was only briefly touched upon in the context of free healthcare.

As is tradition, the lesson ended with a quote from President Putin.