Critics are accusing President Vladimir Putin's government of a Soviet-style rewriting of Russian history with a series of new "patriotic" textbooks to be unveiled in the new school year.

A handbook for teachers, on the basis of which a future textbook for students could be written, is called The Modern History of Russia, 1945-2006. Only one of the authors is a professional historian. The book calls Joseph Stalin a "contradictory" figure, and states that while some people consider him evil, others recognise him as a "hero" for his role in the Great Patriotic War (the Second World War) and his territorial expansion.

Officially, little attention has been paid to the darker aspects of Russia's Soviet past, such as the Stalinist purges or the deportation in appalling conditions of 3 million of its own citizens during the Second World War, with the focus instead on the strength of Stalin's Soviet Union and the victory over Germany.

Mr. Putin said that while 1937 shouldn't be forgotten, other countries had behaved far worse, making references to Hiroshima and the Vietnam War. "We should not allow anyone else to make us feel guilty. Let them think about themselves," he said.

Vladislav Golovanov, a history teacher from Yakutsk in Siberia, told Putin at the meeting that Russia's history should help the country to be unified. The state should return to the teaching of history, he said, and ensure that it is used to instil a sense of patriotism and pride. "Our history should not be about self-flagellation."