Moscow Conducts Fascistization of Russian Higher Education (Part Two)

Moscow Conducts Fascistization of Russian Higher Education (Part Two)

(Part One)

Executive Summary:

• Russia’s higher education system is increasingly isolated from global scholarship and infused with fascist, militaristic ideology, exemplified by the rapid expansion of state-backed Cossack universities emphasizing indoctrination, imperial nostalgia, and detachment from Western academic standards.
• Kremlin-supported Cossack educational initiatives explicitly link universities, youth organizations, and military structures, mobilizing students for ideological conditioning and combat recruitment while embedding fascist identity formation within higher education under the guise of tradition, patriotism, and civic duty.
• The expanding Cossack education network integrates occupied Ukrainian territories and Russian regions into a unified fascist academic framework, using festivals, grants, and youth training to normalize militarization, suppress pluralism, and institutionalize state-driven ideological control over young elites.

Russia’s system of higher education is increasingly embracing isolationist and fascist principles. This isolation is marked by the unique Russian model of education and the detachment from global science (see EDM, October 14, 2025). The Hague Center for Strategic Studies found that whereas in 2017 around 70 percent of citations in Russian university syllabi were to Western sources, in 2025 that number had collapsed to less than 15 percent. The Cossack system of education epitomizes this distinction. The Kremlin regime has already pioneered the development of an “association of Cossack universities” (see EDM, August 10, 2022, November 8, 2023, October 30, 2025). It is promoting itself through a series of events, including the fourth festival meeting of Cossack universities, which began at the end of September 2025 in the Cossack holy city of Novocherkassk in Russia’s Rostov oblast (VsKO, September 30, 2025). The association is growing rapidly, and by the end of 2025, it included 29 universities educating over 1,600 Cossack students (VsKO, December 23, 2025). The Vvedensky ball held in Moscow in early December 2025 demonstrates the extent to which the Cossack educational system promotes ideas of a romantic imperial era (VsKO, December 5, 2025). The system of higher education is more openly embracing indoctrination with profoundly militaristic and fascist principles, further ingraining these themes into Russia’s increasingly militarized society.

Opening the fourth festival meeting of Cossack universities at Platov Polytechnic University, the all-Russian Ataman Vitaly Kuznetsov announced, “The Russian Cossacks have a great future, and our greatest asset, the priority of every Cossack troop in Russia is you, the youth, our future in everything.” He continued to emphasize why the youth are so important to the Cossacks, discussing their military contributions in the ongoing campaign against Ukraine and claiming that 19,000 “Cossacks” are currently fighting on the front lines (VsKO, September 30, 2025). In doing so, Kuznetsov reinforced that one of the Russian Cossacks’ roles is to impose a militant, fascist identity on even the brightest young Russian minds, all in the name of contributing to an abstract sense of glory. Kuznetsov is a central figure in connecting people on university campuses and the Russian presidential administration, including with organizations that help recruit youth for fighting on the front lines in Ukraine (See Bellingcat, December 5, 2025, for more information on how Russian Cossacks drive young people to war).

The festivities in September 2025 were organized under the auspices of the Russian Ministry of Sciences and Higher Education with the assistance of the All-Russian Cossack Society. Kuznetsov’s opening speech declared that the Association of Cossack Universities had recently expanded to 26 “leading institutions” throughout the country, and “more than another ten have also expressed their interest” in joining. This number has already increased. There were 350 young Cossacks from delegations from some 15 universities at the festival, and a total of 800 young Cossacks, including Cossack cadet corps and other organizations, for an event that lasted from September 30 to October 2 (VsKO, September 30, 2025). The second day featured military preparation for the attendees and a “Cossack trails” orienteering event with exhibits dedicated to Cossack history, life, and culture (VsKO, October 1, 2025). The final day began with a parade competition for Cossack squads, a quiz, a roundtable on how best to practice the Cossack hundreds (a traditional formation style for Cossacks), and the closing ceremony (VsKO, October 3, 2025). The event itself and parallel developments highlighted important characteristics of the Cossack movement that contributed to the development of a fascist system of higher education.

First, the festival and parallel events demonstrated connections between the Cossacks and other ostensibly civil society youth organizations. At the same time as the festival, Cossacks in Ekaterinburg were recruiting 22 new young members for the BARS-6 battalion. In doing so, they worked with the DOSAAF (Добровольное общество содействия армии, авиации и флоту; Dobrovol’noe obshchestvo sodeistviia armii, aviatsii i flotu, Voluntary Society for Assistance to the Army, Air Force, and Navy), which works with youth (VsKO, October 3, 2025). DOSAAF was also present at a nearby festival in Rostov-on-Don, discussing the strengthening of Cossack education in that oblast (VsKO, October 1, 2025). Likewise, Olga Stepanova, the minister of education for Omsk oblast, announced in January 2025 the creation of a new Cossack Cadets Corps in the region. There were also over “514 Yunarmiya battalions containing more than 20 thousand schoolchildren” (Kazachestvo, January 14, 2025). Furthermore, Cossacks from the Black Sea Cossack Society served as military instructors for the 58 detachments of the Yunarmiya organization of schoolchildren and college students in Sochi, and reports suggest that those who complete Yunarmiya training enroll in Cossack Cadets Corps organizations (23rus.org, September 17, 2024). The Cossacks are but one piece of an intricate web of youth organizations pushing the fascist agenda, seemingly with a special claim on higher education.

Second, the event served to integrate the new territories into a fascist system of higher education. For example, representatives of the Karachun youth Cossack detachment from the so-called Donetsk People’s Republic attended for the first time and were interviewed by correspondents from the Russian Cossackdom portal. One ataman told the interviewer that he enjoyed the festivities and “personally, I enjoyed the lecture on how to be a Cossack in the modern world. That is, how to identify yourself as a Cossack given modern realities.” Other subjects expressed a wish to remain connected with the other Cossacks they had met, possibly through phone calls (Kazachestvo, October 3, 2025). Similarly, the fourth All-Russian Cossack Youth Rally at the Avangard Defense Sports Camp on October 6, 2025, gave the results of its grant competition with a total pot of three million rubles (about $38,000). For the first time, a representative of the Kherson regional Cossack society entered the competition, which funded eleven projects, each with its own militant theme (VsKO, October 6, 2025). Most entries came from university students, although seven were from people under 18.

The Cossack education system is continuing to grow and spread further through Russia and the occupied regions of Ukraine. The Cossacks are defining their place in the Russian education system as furthering the martial and fascist elements of contemporary Russian higher education.