See clips from the Young Army’s parades and information films in the clip above.
Since their formation in 2016, at the initiative of Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, the Young Army, Yunarmija in Russian, has grown from sixty thousand, to one million two hundred and fifty thousand members. And the membership numbers are ticking steadily upwards.
Children and young people between the ages of 8-18 may apply, and you take an oath to faithfully serve the motherland before becoming a full member.
– By joining the Young Army, I want to demonstrate my love for the motherland, and my will to defend it, says a young girl who has just been accepted into the organization, in an interview on a local TV channel.
Patriotism and national anthem
Even the schools have changed since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine last year. Patriotism is now a compulsory part of all primary schools, and lesson plans on this subject are produced by the Russian Ministry of Education.
Since the start of school on September 1, 2022, the state calls on all schools to raise the Russian flag and sing the Russian national anthem every Monday. Flags have been purchased and distributed to most schools for this purpose.
That authoritarian regimes invest in influencing children and young people is nothing new, according to journalist and music critic Artemiy Troitsky, who fled Russia in 2014.
– It could be that Putin’s regime believes that the children will influence their parents to be more positive about the war, he says.
SVT Nyheter has unsuccessfully sought a representative of the Young Army for a comment.