"C" stands for Crimea, "D" for Donetsk and "P" for Putin -- Russian schoolchildren have been offered a new way to learn the alphabet in the wake of the Ukraine crisis.
Behind the project is a pro-Kremlin youth movement named Set (Network) which says its version of the ABCs symbolises Russia's values and helps promote patriotism among schoolchildren.
"This is a collection of key national symbols," a spokesman for the youth movement, Gleb Samokhvalov, told AFP.
The project has seen the creation of a teaching tool showing each letter in the 33-letter Russian alphabet accompanied by a word and picture, including those for the Crimean peninsula annexed by Russia in March, the restive Donetsk region in east Ukraine and President Vladimir Putin.
The letter "A" stands for "Anti-Maidan," a reference to Ukraine's Maidan protest movement that ousted Kremlin-backed President Viktor Yanukovych in February.
"B" stands Berkut, a Ukrainian riot police force that the government used to violently break up pro-West protests earlier this year in Kiev.
Samokhvalov said the alphabet was recently presented at a school in the eastern Siberian city of Irkutsk and the port city of Sevastopol in Crimea.
The youth movement's initiative has drawn criticism for attempts to politicise education and local officials in Irkutsk have distanced themselves from the project.
Nina Vvedenskaya, an education official in the Irkutsk administration, told AFP the presentation of the alphabet at the school was an "oversight".
“C” stands for Crimea, “D” for Donetsk and “P” for Putin — Russian schoolchildren have been offered a new way to learn the alphabet in the wake of the Ukraine crisis.
Behind the project is a pro-Kremlin youth movement named Set (Network) which says its version of the ABCs symbolises Russia’s values and helps promote patriotism among schoolchildren.
“This is a collection of key national symbols,” a spokesman for the youth movement, Gleb Samokhvalov, told AFP.
The project has seen the creation of a teaching tool showing each letter in the 33-letter Russian alphabet accompanied by a word and picture, including those for the Crimean peninsula annexed by Russia in March, the restive Donetsk region in east Ukraine and President Vladimir Putin.
The letter “A” stands for “Anti-Maidan,” a reference to Ukraine’s Maidan protest movement that ousted Kremlin-backed President Viktor Yanukovych in February.
“B” stands Berkut, a Ukrainian riot police force that the government used to violently break up pro-West protests earlier this year in Kiev.
Samokhvalov said the alphabet was recently presented at a school in the eastern Siberian city of Irkutsk and the port city of Sevastopol in Crimea.
The youth movement’s initiative has drawn criticism for attempts to politicise education and local officials in Irkutsk have distanced themselves from the project.
Nina Vvedenskaya, an education official in the Irkutsk administration, told AFP the presentation of the alphabet at the school was an “oversight”.
