A report by the US research institute Center for Strategic and International Studies says Russia is now trying to “militarize the country’s youth”.
In The report states that the main means of achieving this is the Yunarmiya youth army, in which children as young as 8 years old are trained to be part of the Russian army.
This army of young people has grown a lot in recent years. It was founded in 2016 and there were nearly 100,000 children then, but today there are over a million.
Children learn various military techniques and learn to use automatic machine guns.
It is not believed that Putin intends to send children to the battlefield in Ukraine, but on the other hand, the youth army is seen as a kind of guarantee that the soldiers will be ready for battle. ‘coming.
It also involves instilling in children patriotism, faith and loyalty to Russia and Putin. This reduces the likelihood of them rebelling against Putin and his regime.
Swedish national television says that when children are accepted into the youth army they must take an oath which reads something like this: ‘By joining the youth army I will prove my love for the fatherland and my will to defend it.”
Attempts by the authorities to make the country’s youth combat-ready and nationalistic have not wavered since the invasion of Ukraine. Since September last year, all schools across the country have been required to hoist the national flag every Monday and students must sing the national anthem.
