Court sentences negotiator Medinsky to 10 years in prison for co-authoring textbook justifying Russia's armed aggression – Prosecutor General's Office

The Shevchenkivsky District Court of Kyiv has handed down a guilty verdict against Vladimir Medinsky and Anatoly Torkunov, editors of the Russian textbook for 11th grade "History. History of Russia. 1945 – beginning of the 21st century," published in Russia in 2023, the Prosecutor General’s Office has reported.

"Since September 1, 2023, the textbook has been used in schools in the temporarily occupied territories of Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhia, Kherson regions and the Autonomous Republic of Crimea. It was also distributed in the territory of the Russian Federation," the statement said on the Telegram channel.

As the prosecutor’s office emphasized, the textbook was one of the instruments of Russian information policy in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine. Its content contains public calls for changing the boundaries of the territory and state border of Ukraine, justifies Russia’s armed aggression and the temporary occupation of Ukrainian territories, and also forms a distorted and ideologically biased perception of the events of modern history among students.

Russia is focusing particular attention on children, one of the most vulnerable categories of the population in the occupied territories. Through educational materials, they are being imposed with theses about the so-called "brotherly peoples," Ukraine’s independence as a state is being denied, and the Russian version of the war is being spread under the guise of the so-called "special military operation."

Prosecutors from the Prosecutor General’s Office proved in court the guilt of Medinsky and Torkunov under Part 2 of Article 110 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine – encroachment on the territorial integrity and inviolability of Ukraine, as well as Part 3 of Article 436-2 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine – justification and recognition as lawful of Russia’s armed aggression against Ukraine and glorification of its participants.

The court sentenced each of them to 10 years of imprisonment with confiscation of property.

Medinsky is an aide to Vladimir Putin and head of the Russian delegation at negotiations with Ukraine.

Torkunov is rector of the Moscow State Institute of International Relations of the Russian Foreign Ministry.