Original Russian-language document. Published by the Donetsk People's Republic legislative portal (Законодательство ДНР), Law No. 55-INs. Consolidated text reflects amendments through 28 December 2021. This law was the operative education statute in DPR-controlled territory and was subsequently superseded by Russian federal education law upon annexation on 30 September 2022.
The DPR Law on Education (Law No. 55-INs) is the consolidated statute governing education across Donetsk People's Republic-controlled territory as of late 2021, immediately before formal annexation. The law closely mirrors Russian federal education legislation (Federal Law No. 273-FZ "On Education in the Russian Federation") and mandates alignment with Russian Federal State Educational Standards (FGOS). Instruction in Russian is prescribed as the default language for state educational institutions, with provision for instruction in other languages of the peoples of the DPR only in additional capacity. The law establishes structures for patriotic upbringing and civic education consistent with Russian federal education policy. It is a primary source for understanding the Russification of Donetsk Oblast's education system in the pre-annexation occupation period, and the degree to which DPR legislative architecture anticipated and prepared for formal absorption into the Russian Federation. See also DOC-099 (Mariupol education programme, 2026–2028) for the post-annexation continuation of this framework.
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Article 3 — Principles of State Policy in the Field of Education
State policy in the field of education in the Donetsk People's Republic is based on the following principles: the humanistic nature of education; the priority of life and health of the individual; the right of everyone to education; the inadmissibility of discrimination in education; the secular character of education in state and municipal educational organisations; freedom of choice of education in accordance with the inclinations and needs of the individual; ensuring the right to education throughout a person's life.
Article 14 — Language of Education
In the Donetsk People's Republic, the guaranteed right to receive education in the state language of the Donetsk People's Republic is ensured. The language of education in state and municipal educational organisations is Russian. Citizens of the Donetsk People's Republic have the right to receive pre-school and primary general education in their native language from among the languages of the peoples of the Donetsk People's Republic, including Russian, in the limits established by the educational programme, within the possibilities provided by the educational organisation's system.
Article 20 — Federal State Educational Standards
Education at all levels is carried out in accordance with federal state educational standards. Federal state educational standards are sets of requirements that are mandatory in the implementation of the relevant educational programmes. The Donetsk People's Republic shall ensure the implementation of educational programmes in accordance with federal state educational standards in force in the Russian Federation.
Analytical note
The explicit alignment with Russian Federation Federal State Educational Standards (FGOS) under Article 20 means that even before formal annexation, the DPR's education system was legally subordinated to Russian federal curriculum requirements. The language provisions of Article 14 — establishing Russian as the default language of instruction while relegating other languages to supplementary status — prefigure the post-annexation education policies documented in DOC-099 and DOC-B1/B2. The law's structure across its full text (not reproduced here) mirrors Federal Law No. 273-FZ so closely as to constitute a near-verbatim adoption, demonstrating the degree to which DPR legislative infrastructure was designed for seamless integration into the Russian federal system.