Putin suggested using animals to explain war

Russian President Vladimir Putin has suggested that teachers explain to children "what kind of world we live in" and the reasons for Russia's war in Ukraine using wild animals, in particular polar bears and killer whales, Deutsche Welle reported.

Putin made the suggestion during a meeting with teachers at Moscow State Pedagogical University on Saturday, August 29, in a conversation with Dmitry Balanchukov, a Chinese language teacher from the Belgorod region. A video of the event was posted on the Kremlin website the same day.

The teacher told Putin about his trip to the North Pole and his encounter with two polar bears. In response, Putin recalled the killer whales that live there and that, as part of the food chain, eat polar bears.

"Imagine, killer whales live there. They eat these bears like small food. They just rush into groups and tear them to pieces. All this is very interesting. ... The food chain is structured like this. And children need to be told about this so that they understand what kind of world we live in and why we are conducting a special military operation," the president said.

**Putin often makes comparisons from the animal world**

The Russian leader has repeatedly resorted to comparisons with animals in his speeches. For example, in September 2025, at a meeting with Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico, he said that he did not want to compare the leaders of the European Union countries with reptiles or animals. "They are not experts in fairy tales, they are experts in horror films. The constant fear that Russia is allegedly planning an attack on Europe is being constantly fueled - I think it is either a provocation or sheer incompetence," Putin explained.

In April 2021, Putin, responding to criticism from other countries, recalled Rudyard Kipling's "The Jungle Book" and compared those who baselessly accuse Russia to "little hyenas huddled around Shere Khan." And in December 2011, he called the foreign-funded opposition the "banderlogs" from the same book.

At a press conference in 2014, Putin said that Russia was constantly being chained and tried to be pulled out by the teeth. "Maybe if our bear peacefully roams the taiga eating honey and berries, they will leave it alone? No, they won't," he said at the time.

Earlier, Putin said that Russia's fuel problems had not yet been fully resolved.