Vitaly shevchenko
Russian editor, BBC surveillance
Yunarmia branch in the Zaporizhzhya region
The Russian youth military organization Yunarmia is currently active in the occupied Ukrainian territories, including Zapolijazz, where these girls live.
Being taught to love Russia begins early for children in the occupied regions of eastern Ukraine.
At Luhansk’s nursery, over 70 young people line up with long black and orange Russian military flags in the shape of the letter Z, a symbol of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Crossing the city, seven little girls jump up and down, gesture in front of the Russian flag, blase blowing breath from the speakers. When the music stops, they scream together: “I am Russian.”
In an occupied town known as Anthracite, nursery children made trench candles and blankets for Russian soldiers.
It is all part of a campaign that not only erases Ukrainian national identity, but also transforms young Ukrainians into their own country.
To do it with children, teachers were required, and as many Ukrainian teachers fled, the Moscow government began offering a chunk of 2m rubles (18,500 pounds) to Russian teachers who were willing to migrate to the occupied Ukrainian territories.
The largest and most powerful Russian organization involved with children is Yunarmia (Youth Army).
Partnering with the Russian Ministry of Defense, we will accept younger members as young as eight years old. It operates all over Russia and currently has branches in the occupied areas of Ukraine.
“We provide children with basic skills that they think are useful if they decide to participate in military service,” says Fidervikblatov, who runs the section of Unarmia in the occupied region of Zaporisia region in southeastern Ukraine.
Vikblatov was deployed from Russia’s Bashkortostan, where he led the “youth guard” division of the dominant Russian party.
Yunarmia branch in the Zaporizhzhya region
Unarmia has been approved by both the UK and the EU for “brainwashing” and “militarization” of Ukrainian children
The EU has personally approved Yunarmia and Bikbulatov for the “militarization of Ukrainian children.” Yunarmia has been targeted by British sanctions and is targeted as part of a campaign for Russian “brainwashing” Ukrainian children.
Unarmia is not alone. Other Russian state-sponsored organizations that have moved include the “movement of the first one” and “warriors”, a network of “a network of military and athletic training centers, and a patriotic education for young people established on the orders of Russian President Vladimir Putin.”
These groups host competitions such as the Zarnica Games, rooted in the Soviet era. There, it is necessary for Ukrainian children to demonstrate “general military literacy, knowledge of the Russian state and military history, and firearm fire skills.”
As children progress through the education system, they will be taught in Russian and use textbooks that justify Russian curriculum and Russian war against Ukraine.
One such book portrays Ukraine, merely a Western invention created to mess with Russia, claiming that if Russia was not invaded by Ukraine in 2022, human civilization was probably over.
Lisa, who attended an occupied Donetsk school, says her students were forced to participate in an event celebrating Russia and the Soviet Union.
“When they were preparing a parade of sorts, me, my whole class, my whole year, were forced to attend every weekend and train the train. We had to have posters. I couldn’t say no.
“Every time the lesson began, our teachers would get us to stand up, put our hands on our hearts and listen to the Russian national anthem.
Lisa currently lives in the United States and posts about her experiences with Tiktok.
EPA
Thousands of Ukrainian children are taken on tours in Russia, many of whom do not return
Serving Russian soldiers also plays a role in the campaign of indoctrination, visiting schools that give the so-called “learnings of courage.” They praise the exploitation in the war and portray the Ukrainian army as violent and unruly neo-Nazis.
These lessons are now taught by Pavel Tropkin, an official of the ruling Russian Party based in the occupied areas of the Kremlin, just as “children understand the purpose” of what the Kremlin now calls “special military operations” in Ukraine.
Outside the school, Ukrainian children are taken to see a specially organized exhibition celebrating Russia and “special military operations.”
One of the caterings for such a trip is to hold an exhibition called “Russia – My History” and “Special Military Operations Hero” in Meritpol, in the Zaporia region.
The trip doesn’t stop there.
The Kremlin has also launched a major campaign to bring Ukrainian children on tours in Russia as part of an effort to guide Russian sentiment.
Russian Minister of Culture Olga Liubimova claims that over 20,000 children have been taken to Russia from the occupied Ukrainian territory, with just one programme called “4+85.” According to Rosconcert, the Russian government’s concert organisation that runs the program, they think “to integrate the new generation into a unified Russian society.”
However, Russia’s “integration” campaign goes far beyond indoctrination.
Thousands of Ukrainian children who were taken to Russia during a full-scale invasion of three years are not permitted to return.
According to the Ukrainian government, more than 19,000 Ukrainian children have been forced to deport them to Russia. The UK government estimates that around 6,000 Ukrainian children have been moved to a network of “reeducation camps” in Russia.
International humanitarian law prohibits such activities. For example, the Fourth Geneva Convention states that occupation rights cannot be applied “pressure or propaganda aimed at ensuring the voluntary enlistment of local people “who are “armed or subordinated by local people in the occupying region” that could not be applied.
In 2023, the ICC issued a warrant for President Putin. This is partly due to illegal deportation of children. Putin and his government deny the charges.
Russia is not only fighting war with Ukraine after its territory. They also try to stamp the people who live there, no matter how young they are.
