How and why did Russian education go from the enthusiastic liberalization in the early 1990s to the restoration of a Soviet-style system in the new century? Attempting to answer this question, the authors reassess and advance a theoretical model that they initially proposed fifteen years ago. While most research on education in transitional societies focuses on either institutional or ideological changes, this paper addresses both kinds of transformation from a unified theoretical perspective. In this context, the authors show how ideological tendencies that were registered already in the textbooks of 1990-1992 (nationalist orientations were emphasized side-by-side with a rehabilitation of the Soviet past) have unfolded into a full-scale conservative and neo-imperial ideological reorientation manifest in a radical revision of the history curriculum and in the content of the newly introduced religious education. Overall, the paper advances theoretical and conceptual framework for examining educational change in the context of lengthy social and political transformations. It is especially relevant to comparative studies of cases where such transformations include religious resurgences and state-controlled desecularization.