Russian youth organizations are an instrument of militarization in the occupied territories of Ukraine. The schools there should also promote the Russification of the young generation.
They sing about the determination to “serve Russia”, even if the “path in war” is often “difficult”: the anthem of the “Russian national-patriotic movement Junarmija” (in German: Young Army) resonates with children and young people in Russia on patriotism and military service – now also outside its borders in the occupied territories of Ukraine.
Junarmiya groups are officially aimed at children aged eight and over, but Russian TV channels also show reports about children who are accepted into the movement as early as kindergarten.
Letters to Russian soldiers
Its members wear a flaming red shirt and a barrett bearing an eagle's head and the star of the Russian army.
They regularly write letters to Russian soldiers, organize aid collections and are prepared for possible military service by, for example, learning how to disassemble and reassemble an AK-47 assault rifle.
Stays in youth camps
In internal documents, Yunarmiya boasts of her support for the war against Ukraine. Its members wrote more than three million letters to the Russian military and filmed almost 80,000 video greetings and videos. In addition, members of the movement regularly visited wounded Russian soldiers in hospitals.
The regular program of Junarmija and similar organizations includes stays in youth camps. After the occupation and annexation of Ukrainian territories in violation of international law, appropriate infrastructure was also built there. Pro forma as an offer – in fact, Ukrainian children from the occupied territories can hardly refuse to stay. There they are then instructed in patriotism, regional studies and Russian history and also receive military training.
Russian youth camps in the occupied territories of Ukraine.
Orienting young people towards the military at an early age
Yunarmiya was founded in 2016 on the initiative of then Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu. The organization's task is to consolidate Russian dominance and promote its war efforts, says Stefan Meister from the German Council on Foreign Relations (DGAP).
In addition, it is used to “recruit new soldiers” – not necessarily just for the current war with Ukraine, but also for future conflicts. Corresponding intentions can be found in Junarmija's internal papers. One goal stated there is to increase the number of members called up for military service.
Nine years after its founding, between 1.3 million young people are said to be members of Junarmija – at least that's what it states on its website. Internal documents even mention more than 1.7 million members. The state supports these and similar organizations with billions of rubles every year.
The organization could also be used to address domestic political problems to distract, says master. It's “about patriotic education for Russia and about creating an army of loyal young people who can later be used in the army.”
Yunarmiya has been sanctioned by the EU and individual states because of her support for the war against Ukraine and her spread of propaganda.
Another identity
In the occupied territories of Ukraine, Yunarmiya carries out the patriotic re-education of Ukrainian children.
“It's about depriving children of their own Ukrainian identity and using it as a tool to influence their parents,” says Yuriy Sobolevsky of the Kherson regional council.
The region to the left of the Dnipro River has been occupied by Russian troops since spring 2022. The right bank, where Sobolevsky now lives, was liberated again at the end of 2022, but is constantly under fire from Russian artillery and aircraft.
For Sobolevsky, Russia's goal is clear: to turn an entire generation of Ukrainians into “new adaptable Russians.”
In an internal document from November, Yunarmiya mentions the number of 16,579 young people who are registered as members of the organization in the occupied regions of Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson.
Hundreds of thousands Children brought to Russia?
Yunarmiya is just one of many attempts by the Kremlin to indoctrinate Ukrainian children and break Ukrainian identity in the conquered territories.
This also includes bringing parentless Ukrainian children to Russia, where they are put up for adoption. It is difficult to quantify how many children this affects. The Ukrainian government and non-governmental organizations estimate their number at around 20,000.
Maria Lvowa-Belova, the Russian commissioner for children's rights, said last year that up to 700,000 Ukrainian children had come to Russia since 2022, most of them accompanied by parents or other relatives. What happened to them afterwards is not clear from the statement.
Arrest warrant against Putin
There has been an arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court against her and Russian President Vladimir Putin since March 2023. They are accused of illegally deporting Ukrainian children – a war crime, according to the arrest warrant.
Dmytro Lubinets, the Ukrainian parliament's human rights commissioner, puts the number of children in the occupied territories at a total of 1.5 million. “How many of them have already been deported? We can only guess,” says Lubinets.
How Russia carries out re-education
School education plays an important role in consolidating Russian rule in the occupied territories.
Last June, the human rights organization Human Rights Watch reported on indoctrination in schools by imposing the Russian curriculum, teaching in Russian and carrying out anti-Ukrainian propaganda. In doing so, the Russian occupiers violated international law.
Part of the re-education also includes glorifying Russia's war of aggression in school lessons. In the occupied Kherson region, schoolchildren are forced to watch films about the successes and supposed good consequences of the “special military operation.” In the occupied city of Melitopol, school children are taught about the “heroism” of the soldiers.
The only option: escape
Amnesty International described in October how teachers in the occupied territories were being put under considerable pressure to return to schools and implement Russian curricula. Anyone who refuses will be massively threatened. Many see escape as the only option.
Russian state-controlled media and pro-government platforms often report successes in re-educating Ukrainian children. At the beginning of November, the Pobeda (in German: Victory) news agency reported that in the occupied city of Mariupol, “more than 200 graduates” of a branch of the St. Petersburg Naval School had sworn loyalty to Russia “in a ceremonial setting.”
“They have already accepted our statutes and rules. They are ready to become future sailors,” a representative of the Russian authorities said in a video.
A generation under Russian influence
By re-educating Ukrainian children “to become loyal, patriotic Russians,” Russia is trying to send a message to the people in the occupied territories and to its own population, says Stefan Meister from the DGAP.
People should be given the idea that Ukraine has “no identity of its own, no statehood.” Ukrainian children should be 'rewired' into loyal, patriotic Russians.”
Even if re-education outside of Russia looks like “child abuse – at the state-organized level” – for Russia it is an instrument of legitimacy – both internally and in Ukraine itself, says Meister.
Russia is also counting on time. There is already a generation of Ukrainians who grew up under Russian occupation and school indoctrination – in Crimea and Donbass. For these children, Russian stories have become their only reality and shape their understanding of history, identity and truth.
