The Presidential Commission of the Russian Federation to Counter Attempts to Falsify History to the Detriment of Russia’s Interests (2009–12)

Abstract: The Presidential Commission of the Russian Federation to Counter Attempts to Falsify History to the Detriment of Russia’s Interests (Комиссия при президенте Российской Федерации по противодействию попыткам фальсификации истории в ущерб интересам России), established in 2009, was intended to serve as Russia’s response to similar attempts at institutionalisation in the Central and Eastern Europe region (such as the historical commissions in the Baltic states, and the Institutes of National Remembrance in Poland and Ukraine). At the same time, its activities showed a multidimensional approach, combining elements of security policy with education, culture and media, public and non-public memory policy, and formal and informal activities. Although the official emphasis was mainly on the external (foreign) determinants of the Commission’s genesis, it also became an important element of domestic policy. The Commission only operated for three years (2009–2012), but its importance as a tool of Kremlin policy cannot be overestimated. It turned difficult historical issues into “historical weapons”; introduced international public discourse to the Russian narrative, which was constructed in a spirit of confrontation with the memories of its neighbours; coordinated the activities of formal state organisations, as well as those which operated as nominally non-state bodies but were financed by the state; expanded the community of expert research which argued the Russian narrative while undermining others from abroad; and examined the options for transmitting the desired attitudes and opinions to wider audiences, creating systemic mechanisms of what has been called “counteracting the falsification of history.” The aim of this article is to show the institutional and organisational aspect of this phenomenon.