Hello!

This is Anna Orlova from the independent media outlet 7x7. Would you like to know what four Russian regions have spent 5.4 billion rubles on? Not on hospitals or schools, but on building national centers devoted entirely to state propaganda.

Since 2024, branches of the Russia National Center have been opening across the country's regions on Vladimir Putin's orders. According to the authorities, these venues are intended to promote the country's achievements and strengthen national identity. At least 13 such centers are set to open in Russia by 2031. Vladivostok, Khanty-Mansiysk, Krasnoyarsk, and Ryazan were chosen as the pilot cities.

In reality, the centers drain regional budgets of money that could otherwise have been spent on building social infrastructure. In many cases, the authorities also take over and repurpose existing facilities.

In this newsletter, we will tell you what exhibitions the money was spent on and what the regions lost as a result.

Estimated reading time: 5 minutes

Studying Patriotism Instead of the Ocean

That's what happened in Vladivostok. In 1991, an oceanarium opened in the city. It was especially popular with children, who came to see fish from the Pacific Ocean, reptiles, and tropical butterflies. The oceanarium was also home to creative workshops, a bookstore, scientific laboratories, and libraries. For a long time, it was the only oceanarium in eastern Russia.

Thirty-five years later, however, the authorities took over the building. The oceanarium administration notified employees of the closure and layoffs just a few days in advance. They were unable to protest: police cars and vehicles from Rosgvardia and the Emergency Situations Ministry arrived as they gathered for a picket. Thirteen specialists lost their jobs as a result of the layoffs. The authorities ordered the animals to be transferred to a newer oceanarium 30 kilometers from Vladivostok. It is much larger but less convenient to reach, and many Vladivostok residents prefer the old one: the journey is longer, children quickly get tired of the large exhibition, and ticket prices are three times higher for adults (1,200 rubles instead of 400) and six times higher for children (1,200 rubles instead of 200).

Nevertheless, the authorities ignored residents' complaints, and the Russia center opened in the building in September 2025.

A similar venue appeared in Krasnoyarsk despite residents' complaints. They would have preferred the money spent on the center, whose cost they consider inflated, to go toward air filters for industrial facilities. Since 2012, the city has been unsuccessfully battling “black sky,” the name residents use for dense smog that pollutes the air.

In Ryazan, the authorities built the center on part of a forest park planted by local residents, where people had played soccer, flown model airplanes, and held sports competitions for years. In Kaliningrad, it was built on the site of the unfinished House of Soviets, a modernist landmark that local activists had unsuccessfully fought to save from demolition.

What Is the Purpose of Patriotic Centers?

According to Putin's vision, the Russia National Center is intended to preserve the country's heritage, showcase Russia's achievements, strengthen national identity, foster a sense of pride in the country, and develop professional skills among children and young people.

In practice, the National Center serves as a venue for officials, where regional heads deliver holiday addresses and meetings on cultural issues, lectures, forums, and educational events are held. The centers already operating in Primorsky Krai, Krasnoyarsk Krai, and Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug host pro-government lecturers from the Russian Knowledge Society, performers from Moscow, and participants in the war in Ukraine.

Political scientists believe that such centers mask the lack of a shared political identity. People in the regions cannot unite around political views, ethnicity, or even the mere fact of living in the same territory. All the authorities leave them is the opportunity to express themselves through federal narratives about a strong Russia that promotes family values, the defense of its borders, and the diversity of its peoples. In practice, the indigenous peoples' forums held at these centers tend instead to exoticize the communities they showcase. The exhibitions are intended to demonstrate the distinctiveness of different peoples and tell their histories, but they offer no solutions to present-day problems. Nor do the centers provide programs aimed at integration or opportunities to study national languages and traditional crafts.

What’s Inside the Centers?

All Russia centers follow a standardized format. Their exhibitions always include city models, pro-war displays, exhibits showcasing the achievements of local industries, and displays devoted to the study of the Russian language. The centers also offer courses for young journalists and have shops selling patriotic merchandise. Visitors can attend lectures by pro-government economists, cultural scholars, and historians.

The equipment and exhibitions look very expensive (each of the four regions spent at least 1 billion rubles on setting up its center), but according to political scientist Dmitry Loboyko, they fail to fulfill their intended function: spreading propaganda to people who were not previously susceptible to it. Instead, the regions seem to have gained several more expensive venues for officials to hold meetings and report on their work with indigenous peoples. Their main visitors, however, are people who are already loyal to pro-government ideas.

“The center does not so much create new supporters as retain those who were never inclined to ask questions in the first place,” Loboyko said. “It works as a system for maintaining loyalty, not a system of persuasion.”

Quick reminder!

Don't forget to visit the 7x7 website. Every week, we publish the most important news and stories from Russia's regions in English.

Read the full study on our website, and stay tuned for more stories to better understand life in Russia beyond Moscow.