A Russian language textbook portraying Russia as an attractive democratic state and inviting Lithuanian high school students to visit Crimea has been withdrawn from circulation. Schools have been informed that it cannot be used for teaching, Education, Science and Sport Minister Jurgita Šiugždinienė said on Thursday.
“We have agreed that the publishers will review all the textbooks they publish within two weeks so that there are no situations like the one we have with the Russian language textbook,” the minister told reporters after a meeting with textbook publishers.
“The Russian textbook has been withdrawn from circulation, and a letter has been sent to schools to inform them that this textbook cannot be used. It has also been removed from the archives,” she added.
According to the minister, other Russian textbooks will also be reviewed.
“These are places that glorify Russia and are totally unacceptable in the context of the brutal war [in Ukraine],” she said.
LRT RADIO has recently reported that textbooks used to teach Russian as a foreign language in Lithuania invite high school students to travel around Russia, visit the annexed Crimean Peninsula, and present the country, which continues its war against Ukraine, as an attractive democratic country.
This year, over 110,000 students, or 75 of all high school students in Lithuania, chose Russian as their second foreign language. In Lithuania, children start learning English in primary school before choosing a second language in year 6.
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