Ukraine war: Pro-war ideology is drilled into Russia’s children as playgrounds become parade grounds

CNN
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Russia’s playgrounds have gotten parade grounds. At schools from the Pacific to the Black Sea, children in nursery grade don uniforms and participate in marching observe. Older children are being taught how you can dig trenches, throw grenades and shoot with actual ammunition.

In faculties throughout the nation, service within the armed forces is being glorified, “voluntary companies” of youngsters are being fashioned and the nationwide curriculum is being modified to emphasise protection of the motherland.

In brief, Russia’s children are being ready for warfare.

The militarization of Russia’s public faculties has intensified because the Russian invasion of Ukraine, pushed not by a spontaneous surge of patriotic feeling, however by the federal government in Moscow.

The funding is enormous. Education Minister Sergei Kravtsov stated lately that there are actually about 10,000 so-called “military-patriotic” golf equipment in Russian faculties and schools, and a quarter-of-a-million folks participate of their work.

These golf equipment are a part of a multi-pronged effort that features a radical overhaul of the college curriculum. There are necessary lessons on military-patriotic values; up to date historical past books intensify Russian army triumphs.

In August, President Vladimir Putin signed a regulation introducing a brand new necessary course in faculties: “Fundamentals of Security and Defense of the Motherland.”

The Education Ministry subsequently promoted programs as a part of this initiative to incorporate excursions to army items, “military-sports games, meetings with military personnel and veterans,” and lessons on drones.

High-school college students would even be taught to make use of stay ammunition “under the guidance of experienced military unit officers or instructors exclusively at the firing line,” in accordance with the ministry.

The program, which is being examined this yr and shall be launched in 2024, is designed to instil within the college students “an understanding and acceptance of the aesthetics of military uniforms, military rituals and combat traditions,” in accordance with an Education Ministry doc uncovered by the Russian impartial media outlet Important Stories.

Modern historical past is being rewritten too. The customary textbook, ‘History of Russia,’ now has the Crimea Bridge on its cowl and a brand new chapter dedicated to the latest historical past of Ukraine. There are sections entitled “Falsification of history,” “Revival of Nazism,” “Ukrainian neo-Nazism,” and “Russia is a country of heroes.”

Putin has repeatedly falsely framed the Russian invasion of Ukraine as a “special mission” to guard Russian audio system from genocide by the hands of “neo-Nazis.”

A brand new chapter falsely claims that Ukraine “openly declared its desire to acquire nuclear weapons,” and “unprecedented sanctions have been introduced against Russia, since the West is trying in every way to bring down the Russian economy.”

The e-book seems designed to stoke a way of historic grievance amongst Russian children and lay out an existential battle for the nation’s survival, a typical theme within the state media pumped each day into dwelling rooms throughout the nation.

President Putin has personally led the marketing campaign to inject patriotism into Russia’s faculties. At an occasion on the Kremlin this month, he instructed a gaggle of children a couple of letter that his grandfather had despatched to his father, who was combating the Nazis through the World War II.

“Beat the scum!” he had instructed him, in accordance with Putin’s account.

Putin went on: “I realised why we won the Great Patriotic War. People with such an attitude simply cannot be defeated. We were absolutely invincible, just as we are now.”

An in depth survey by CNN of native and social media in Russia discovered that children as younger as seven or eight are receiving primary army coaching.

In July, for instance, children in Belgorod gave themselves call-signs – one adopted “Sledgehammer” – and took half in workouts that included the usage of automated weapons, assembling a machine gun and getting by an impediment course.

Belgorod’s Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov advised conducting workouts with schoolchildren and pre-schoolers repeatedly.

In Krasnodar in May, dozens of children who seemed not more than seven or eight years previous marched in military and navy uniforms, some clutching imitation automated weapons, as they handed dignitaries on a podium.

In a parade held within the metropolis of Vologda, a small youngster saluted and instructed an official: “Сomrade parade commander! The parade is ready. I am Commander Uliana Shumelova.”

Similar scenes have performed out from Sakhalin in Russia’s Far East to Yeysk on the Sea of Azov. Some of the children look excited, some bewildered. In Yeysk, a pre-schooler led the march of the border guards, as his friends chanted: “One, two, three. Left, left, left!”

Most of the children in these parades are in a single kind of army uniform or one other, attempting to march in step with out a lot success. Frequently they carry footage of Russian army heroes.

The symbolism of what the Kremlin calls the “Special Military Operation” in Ukraine is additionally celebrated. In town of Astrakhan, nursery children wore uniforms and had toy automobiles emblazoned with the letter Z, a propagandist image used to indicate help for the Ukraine warfare.

The Ministry of Defense has scaled up its outreach to colleges with a well-publicized Christmas Tree of Wishes’ program, just like the Make-A-Wish Foundation, during which the minister himself, Sergei Shoigu, has been lively.

Shoigu invited a 9-year previous lady known as Daria from Udmurt to the Victory Day parade in Moscow in May. Other children visited army helicopters and the Air Defense museum.

Russia’s children are additionally anticipated to contribute to the warfare effort in sensible methods. The governing United Russia occasion launched a program in Vladivostok during which college children sew pants and caps for troopers (within the sample of the occasion.)

In Vladimir, children have been stitching balaclavas for the army in labor classes, as a part of a marketing campaign known as “We sew for our men.”

Students at a technical college in Voronezh have been tasked with making cellular stoves and trench candles for the Russian army. Disabled teenage ladies in Ussuriysk have been drafted into stitching “Friend or foe” headbands and bandages for the Northern Military District. And in Buryatia within the Russian Far East, orphans sewed ‘good luck’ amulets for troopers combating in Ukraine.

There are additionally letter-writing campaigns. “Five-year-old boys from kindergarten answer with confidence,” a neighborhood information outlet in Chita trumpeted. “Before sealing the triangular envelope, they carefully colored the image of the fighter.”

All these actions are publicized in regional media as a part of a broader effort to rally patriotic spirit in help of the Ukraine marketing campaign.

Teenagers are additionally inspired to compete in what are known as Youth Military Sports Games.

The district last within the Orenburg area has simply completed. 180 athletes from 14 groups – together with the illegally annexed areas of Ukraine – took half in quite a lot of competitions: grenade throwing, drill coaching, overcoming an impediment course and assembling a Kalashnikov assault rifle, retailer gear and a army historical past quiz.

The aim, in accordance with the Defense Ministry, is to “cultivate a sense of mutual assistance and comradely support, high moral and psychological qualities, as well as prepare the younger generation for service in the Armed Forces Russian Federation.”

The army go to faculties too. Children in Buryatia spoke of a go to from a wounded soldier who claimed he had fought Polish mercenaries in Ukraine and stated the Ukrainians themselves “don’t want to fight and are being forced.”

At least some academics who’ve been lower than enthusiastic concerning the adjustments have been eliminated, although it’s troublesome to know what number of. The director of a college in Perm resigned after being criticized by pro-war activists. She’d been reluctant to have lessons concerning the SMO.

It’s additionally troublesome to gauge how dad and mom really feel concerning the introduction of a extra militaristic curriculum. Some dad and mom have voiced their opposition, however the majority seem like supportive of this military-patriotic marketing campaign, if public opinion surveys are to be believed.

State information company RIA Novosti reported that in accordance with a survey 79% of fogeys help the displaying of movies concerning the warfare to their children.

Social media feedback do recommend that many Russians really feel their nation is surrounded and ostracized by hostile powers. Its solely choice is to defend itself. That message – hammered dwelling by the president and state media – is now being taken into Russia’s faculties.