Russian leaders have increasingly used museums and their digital collections to show propaganda about Slavic unity and deny Ukrainian identity since the 2022 invasion, analysis shows.
The research shows the increasing ideological indoctrination of Russian museums and digital spaces, a tightening of access to digital collections, and using copyright to limit and control how online collections are accessed and reused.
Russian museum websites and online collections have portrayed Ukraine, its history, and culture as inseparable from Russia before 2022. During the past three years they have hosted exhibitions which represent occupied territories as historically and culturally Russian, framing the invasion of Ukraine as a fight against Nazism and NATO, and glorifying the invasion and individuals who served in the Russian Army.
Ksenia Lavrenteva, from the University of Exeter, examined activities organised by Russian museums before and after the 2022 invasion of Ukraine, as well as legislation, cultural policies, and museum practices.
This included four museums - Russian Museum, State Hermitage Museum, the State Historical Museum, the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts, and the State Catalogue, a national database of digitised museum objects, as well as 25 Russian museum websites.
She found Russian museums are functioning as components of the state's ideological apparatus. This means researchers using them should prioritize non-Russian sources, particularly those from Ukrainian and other perspectives, to ensure a more critical and balanced approach to cultural heritage.
Ms Lavrenteva found since 2022 there have been at least 50 online exhibitions addressing Ukraine—its history, culture, and the Russian invasion—hosted by Russian museums and museums in occupied Ukrainian territories.
Before 2022 the State Catalogue, a national database of digitised museum objects, had restricted provenance information and museum-controlled usage policies that hindered academic and creative endeavours. After the invasion there was more overt mechanisms of ideological indoctrination, tighter information control, and the closure of data related to Russia.
Ms Lavrenteva said: "The research shows how museums within authoritarian regimes can be weaponized to reinforce state ideology, suppress dissent, and obscure the history of those who do not conform to state narratives.
"Open access can help to ensure greater diversity in representations, expressions, and cultures. But it can enhance the spread of ideological narratives with the reuse of Russian-produced data.
"This study underscores the need to scrutinize who controls access to cultural data and for what purposes. There is a need for a more critical and context-sensitive approach to open access —one that balances its potential for inclusivity with safeguards to prevent the amplification of oppressive ideologies."
Numerous museum exhibitions and events have depicted heroes of the Russian invasion and soldiers. Belongings of individuals serving in the Russian Army during the invasion are included in the museum collections.
The "Angels of Donbas" project commemorates children who died between 2014 and 2023 in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions. This project, created by the Donetsk Republican Local History Museum (under the control of the occupying government), regularly appears on the websites of various museums in Russia and in occupied territories, as well as on museum social media networks. Although labelled as an exhibition, the project consists of only 18 slides featuring photographs and brief textual descriptions.
During the first year of the invasion, Russian museums hosted 58 events on "Nazism," with some focusing on World War II and others drawing parallels with contemporary issues, specifically discussing "Ukrainian neo-Nazism". Exhibitions such as "Evidence of Crimes by Ukrainian Nazis in Donbas" and "Ordinary Nazism," trace the "history of Ukrainian Nazism" and portray Ukraine as a Nazi state, thereby justifying the Russian invasion as a fight against Nazism akin to World War II. Exhibitions such as "NATO: History of Lies" and "NATO: Chronicles of Cruelty" aim to present the Russian war in Ukraine as a war against NATO.
"Donbas — Russia: History and Modernity" aims to showcase "authentic documents and other material evidence of the centuries-old inseparable connection between Donbas and Russia. The exhibition begins its historical narrative only after the region became part of the Russian Empire, while disregarding previous history in the region. This exhibition is featured both online and physically by over 50 museums, libraries, and galleries in Russia and the occupied territories of Ukraine.
Russian museums and those in occupied Ukrainian territories have marked occupation anniversaries by presenting these regions as part of Russian history and culture.
The Russian Ministry of Culture has launched the 2023 Guidelines for Creating Exhibitions on the History of the Special Military Operation. These exhibitions are expected to focus on the occupied regions of Ukraine from 2022, emphasize these regions' historical significance as integral parts of Russia, highlight alleged anti-Russian sentiments in Ukraine, and present the purported reasons for Russia's invasion. These reasons include the "ongoing terrorist shelling of Donbas" and "NATO's involvement in enhancing the combat capabilities of the Ukrainian Armed Forces".
Recommendations for museum displays include illustrating "Ukrainian nationalist ideologies," depicting Ukrainian soldiers as Nazis and drug addicts, and documenting civilian experiences through artifacts such as "children's toys with blood stains or damage," "instruments of torture," and "oral testimonies from residents of liberated territories".
The recently adopted Federal Law No. 63-FZ (2023) stipulates that museum objects located in occupied territories are part of the Museum Fund of the Russian Federation. The law requires objects taken from Ukrainian museums or located in the occupied territories and illegally held by Russia to be digitized and presented in accordance with Russian ideology.
