CNN –
Russia’s playgrounds are becoming parade grounds. In schools from the Pacific to the Black Sea, kindergarten-aged children don uniforms and take part in marching drills. Older children are taught how to dig trenches, throw grenades and shoot real ammunition.
In schools across the country, service in the armed forces is being glorified, “volunteer companies” of youth are being created, and the national curriculum is being changed to emphasize defense of the motherland.
In short: Russia’s children are being prepared for war.
The militarization of Russia’s public schools has intensified since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, driven not by a spontaneous wave of patriotic sentiment but by the government in Moscow.
The investment is huge. Education Minister Sergei Kravtsov recently said that there are now about 10,000 so-called “military-patriotic” clubs in Russian schools and universities and that a quarter of a million people are involved in their work.
These clubs are part of a multifaceted initiative that includes a radical overhaul of the curriculum. There are compulsory courses on military-patriotic values; Updated history textbooks emphasize Russia’s military successes.
In August, President Vladimir Putin signed a law introducing a new compulsory course in schools: “Fundamentals of Security and Defense of the Fatherland.”
Subsequently, as part of this initiative, the Ministry of Education sponsored courses that included field trips to military units, “military sports games, meetings with military personnel and veterans,” and courses on drones.
According to the ministry, high school students are also taught how to handle live ammunition “under the guidance of experienced officers or instructors from a military unit, exclusively on the firing line.”
The program, which is being tested this year and will be rolled out in 2024, is intended to give students “an understanding and acceptance of the aesthetics of military uniforms, military rituals and combat traditions,” according to an Education Ministry document uncovered by the Russian independent media outlet Important stories.
RIA Novosti/Telegram
Russian state media RIA Novosti shows photos of a new history book with a chapter on the “special military operation,” as Russia calls its war against Ukraine.
Modern history is also being rewritten. The standard textbook “History of Russia” now has the Crimean Bridge on the cover and a new chapter dedicated to the recent history of Ukraine. There are sections titled “Falsification of History,” “Revival of Nazism,” “Ukrainian Neo-Nazism,” and “Russia is a Land of Heroes.”
Putin has repeatedly falsely portrayed the Russian invasion of Ukraine as a “special mission” to protect Russian-speaking people from genocide by “neo-Nazis.”
A new chapter incorrectly claims that Ukraine has “openly declared its desire to acquire nuclear weapons” and that “unprecedented sanctions have been imposed on Russia as the West tries in every possible way to bring down the Russian economy.”
The book appears designed to stir up a sense of historical resentment among Russian children and portray an existential struggle for the nation’s survival, a common theme in state media that is pumped daily into living rooms across the country.
President Putin personally led the campaign to instill patriotism in Russian schools. At an event at the Kremlin this month, he told a group of children about a letter his grandfather sent to his father, who fought against the Nazis in World War II.
“Hit the scum!” is what Putin told him.
Putin continued: “I realized why we won the Great Patriotic War. People with such an attitude simply cannot be defeated. We were absolutely invincible, just like we are now.”
A comprehensive CNN survey of local and social media in Russia found that children as young as seven or eight years old are receiving basic military training.
In July, for example, children in Belgorod gave each other call signs – one adopted “sledgehammer” – and took part in exercises that included handling automatic weapons, assembling a machine gun and tackling an obstacle course.
Belgorod Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov suggested conducting regular exercises with school and preschool children.
In Krasnodar in May, dozens of children as young as seven or eight years old dressed in army and navy uniforms, some carrying imitation automatic weapons, marched past dignitaries at a podium.
At a parade in the city of Vologda, a small child saluted and said to an official: “Comrade parade commander! The parade is ready. I am Commander Uliana Shumelova.”
Similar scenes played out from Sakhalin in the Russian Far East to Yeysk on the Sea of Azov. Some of the children look excited, others confused. In Yeysk, a preschooler led the march of border guards while his classmates shouted: “One, two, three. Left-left-left!”
Most children in these parades wear one type of military uniform or another and unsuccessfully attempt to march in step. They often bear images of Russian military heroes.
Also being celebrated is the symbolism of what the Kremlin calls a “special military operation” in Ukraine. In the city of Astrakhan, kindergarten children wore uniforms and toy vehicles bearing the letter Z, a propaganda symbol expressing support for the Ukrainian war.
Municipal educational institution “Ilyinsky House of Children’s Creativity”
Schoolchildren receive a lecture from a soldier of the Russian army.
The Defense Ministry has expanded its outreach to schools with a widely publicized “Christmas Tree of Wishes” program, similar to the Make-A-Wish Foundation, in which the minister himself, Sergei Shoigu, was active.
In May, Shoigu invited a nine-year-old girl named Daria from Udmurt to the Victory Parade in Moscow. Other children visited military helicopters and the air defense museum.
Russia’s children are also expected to contribute to the war effort in practical ways. The ruling United Russia party launched a program in Vladivostok in which schoolchildren sewed trousers and hats for soldiers (based on the party’s model).
In Vladimir, children sewed balaclavas for the military in work classes as part of the “We sew for our men” campaign.
Students at a technical school in Voronezh have been tasked with making mobile ovens and trench candles for the Russian military. In Ussuriysk, disabled teenage girls were conscripted to sew “friend or foe” headbands and bandages for the Northern Military District. And in Buryatia in the Russian Far East, orphans sewed “good luck” amulets for soldiers fighting in Ukraine.
There are also letter campaigns. “Five-year-old boys from kindergarten answer confidently,” trumpeted a local news agency in Chita. “Before sealing the triangular envelope, they carefully colored the image of the fighter.”
All of these activities will be publicized in regional media as part of a broader effort to inspire patriotic spirit in support of the Ukraine campaign.
Young people are also encouraged to take part in so-called Youth Military Sports Games.
The district finals in the Orenburg region have just ended. 180 athletes from 14 teams – including from the illegally annexed territories of Ukraine – took part in various competitions: grenade throwing, drill training, overcoming an obstacle course and assembling a Kalashnikov assault rifle, camp equipment and a quiz on military history.
The goal, according to the Ministry of Defense, is “to foster a sense of mutual aid and comradely support, high moral and psychological qualities, and to prepare the young generation for service in the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation.”
The military also visits schools. Children in Buryatia reported visiting a wounded soldier who claimed he had fought against Polish mercenaries in Ukraine and said Ukrainians themselves “do not want to fight and are being forced.”
At least some teachers who were less than enthusiastic about the changes were removed, although it’s difficult to know how many. The director of a school in Perm has resigned after being criticized by war supporters. She was reluctant to take lessons about the SMO.
It is also difficult to gauge what parents think about adopting a more militaristic curriculum. Some parents have spoken out against it, but the majority appear to support this military-patriotic campaign, if public opinion polls are to be believed.
State news agency RIA Novosti reported that according to a survey, 79% of parents support showing their children videos about the war.
Comments on social media suggest that many Russians feel their country is surrounded and ostracized by hostile powers. The only option is to defend yourself. This message, made clear by the president and state media, is now being carried into Russian schools.