Putin's adviser who said Russians have one more chromosome than the rest of the world is being criticized even in Russia for his new history textbooks

Practicing teachers have filed a record number of comments and complaints about factual errors in the new history textbooks, drawn up under the supervision of Vladimir Medinski, President Vladimir Putin's chief cultural adviser and author of the concept of the “extra chromosome of the Russian people”, reports The Moscow Times.

Kommersant, the largest financial newspaper in Russia, first wrote about the situation, citing a statement by academician Alexander Chubarian, director of the Institute of General History within the Russian Academy of Sciences.

Speaking at a conference of the Russian Military Historical Society (RMHS), Chubarian, who was one of the editors of the series of new textbooks, noted that the volume of criticism was unusually high. “Teachers usually write short suggestions. Here we received very detailed feedback. Suffice it to say that one teacher sent 25-30 pages of comments for each general history textbook for grades V-IX,” said the Russian academician.

According to him, the teachers not only pointed out factual inaccuracies, but also suggested changes in the methodological approaches to presenting the events. Following complaints, Vladislav Kononov, secretary of the textbook working group, and Vladimir Medinski announced plans to release updated versions of the textbooks in Russia in 2026.

The Moscow Times reminds that for grades V-IX, this will be the second edition in two years, and for grades X-XI, the third in as many years.

Councilor Medinski led Russia's peace negotiations

Medinski, a controversial pseudo-historian who served as Russia's culture minister from 2012 to 2020, rose to prominence outside Russia after Putin named him Moscow's chief negotiator in peace talks with Ukraine in the early months of the war.

In Russia, he is known as a fierce nationalist and for promoting a heavily revised, state-centric version of Russian history and values. His “Myths About Russia” book series seeks to debunk perceived anti-Russian narratives, but has been widely criticized for distorting history.

Medinski once drew ridicule by claiming that Russians “have an extra chromosome,” a bizarre and pseudo-scientific statement meant to suggest an innate Russian resilience and uniqueness, as The Guardian reported last spring, when Putin's adviser led a new round of peace talks with Ukraine in Istanbul.

He was not present, however, at the new tripartite peace talks held in Abu Dhabi, where the Kremlin sent a delegation of military officials.

Russian history textbooks will end with a description of the meeting between Putin and Trump

Although the officials cited by the Russian media regarding the irregularities in the textbooks did not go into details about specific cases of mistakes reported by the teachers, the report published by Kommersant suggests that some of the complaints are related to the fact that they do not follow the approved school curriculum for the History discipline.

Mikhail Miagkov, the scientific director of the Russian Military Historical Society, clarified that future editions will include sections on the Sochi Olympics, the 2018 World Cup and the COVID-19 pandemic, but that the “main focus” will be on “the reasons for the special military operation.”

Kononov also said that high school textbooks will end with a description of President Donald Trump's meeting with Vladimir Putin in Anchorage in 2025.