Putin’s propaganda tsar has plan to brainwash toddlers

Russia’s new TV cartoon depicts world leaders as children bickering on a video call, and aims to “instil patriotism from an early age”

The TV show depicts Vladimir Putin, Donald Trump and other world leaders as children.

One of Russia’s most notorious propaganda agents is to launch a show on geopolitics for preschool children that features animated images of President Putin and President Trump, as well as other world leaders.

Vladimir Solovyov, who has been sanctioned by Britain and the European Union for promoting disinformation that undermines Ukraine’s sovereignty, said the show, called Sandpit, would “instil patriotism from an early age” and teach Russian infants to “discuss geopolitics”.

A trailer for the show, which is financed by Mr Solovyov’s media holding company, features images of Mr Putin, Mr Trump, French President Emmanuel Macron, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, as well as Elon Musk. They are all depicted as children.

The TV show depicts (clockwise from top left) Vladimir Putin, Donald Trump, Emmanuel Macron, Kim Jong-un, Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Elon Musk as children.

In the short trailer, Mr Kim suggests Mr Macron should not be allowed to hang out with the rest of the leaders at a meeting in Istanbul because “you are always with your granny”, a reference to the French president’s wife.

When Mr Trump asks why they are chatting on a Russian online platform, Mr Putin replies: “Because your Skype is dead, that’s why.” The once-popular video messaging website was closed down by its owner, Microsoft, this month.

The leaders are also represented by a series of images, or avatars: Mr Putin, predictably, is a bear wearing a furry hat with a red star, while Mr Kim is a mushroom cloud. Mr Trump is depicted as a pope, blessing worshippers.

The first show has yet to be broadcast: however, Mr Solovyev described the cartoon as an “ambitious step into a future where political awareness begins in infancy”.

Mr Solovyev’s show comes amid a Kremlin campaign to promote Mr Putin’s vision of the world to Russian schoolchildren. New history textbooks for teenagers describe Ukraine as a “Nazi state” and claim that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine was “a question of life and death, the question of our historic future as a people”. They also state that Mr Trump lost the US presidential election in 2020 “as a result of obvious electoral fraud by the Democratic Party”.

Since Russia sent tanks into Ukraine in 2022, Mr Solovyov has claimed that it is governed by “fascists” and Ukrainians “serve Satan”. He has also alleged that British intelligence services staged the massacre of Ukrainian civilians in Bucha, a town near Kyiv. He said they chose the town because its name sounded like “butcher”.

There are signs, however, that Russians are growing weary of such propaganda. Mr Solovyev’s current affairs show, An Evening with Mr Solovyev, is steadily losing its audience and only rarely makes the list of Russia’s top 50 most-watched programs, according to rating figures cited by Russian opposition media.

Despite constant propaganda, not all Russian children have been taken in by the Kremlin’s disinformation: more than 500 teenagers have been detained at anti-war rallies in the past three years, according to OVD-Info, a human rights group.

One of Russia’s youngest political prisoners is Arseny Turbin, who was 15 when he was charged with joining the Freedom of Russia Legion, a group of Russian citizens who are fighting for Ukraine.

Mr Turbin, who denied the allegations, was sentenced to five years in a penal colony. He was also convicted of distributing leaflets criticising Mr Putin and the war in Ukraine.

The Times