Eliminating Ukrainian identity, militarizing the mind of peninsula’s residents, glorifying the combatants of war in Ukraine are in progress in the occupied Crimea.
For this purpose, a detailed action plan to be implemented by local military commissions and so-called Crimean ministries was attached to ordinance of Sergey Aksionov on the website of the so-called “Government of Crimea”. This plan is focused on a need to intensify the collaboration between military commissions and schools “for the purpose of military and patriotic education of children.”
The “Ministry of Education of Crimea” and other ministries and governmental agencies, for instance, shall provide “an educational platform for teaching pupils defense at elementary level and training them in military service basics”, carry out “military and patriotic activities with citizens of pre-conscription age”, “familiarize them with military rituals, museums and rooms of military glory”, etc.
In Crimea, all authorities shall hold military-patriotic events as “Day of Conscript”, “Open Door Day”, “Ready for Work and Defense” with a mandatory involvement of “YUNARMIYA, All-Russian Children’s and Youth Military-Patriotic Public Movement” members.
Sergey Kravtsov, Minister of Education of the Russian Federation, said that starting from September 1, 2023, the military training basics for children would become a mandatory part of the school curriculum. In particular, children shall learn how to put on a gas mask in case of a gas attack, to assemble and disassemble a machine gun, throw a grenade, rack a rifle slide, bandage or immobilize a wounded person on the battlefield, what to do during the FLASH TO RIGHT command and the air raid alarm.
Collaborators in Crimea have started preparing to these changes. For instance, military training basics for children have been already given in the KONSOL privately owned school, the property of Mr.Konstantinov, so-called “Speaker of the State Council of Crimea”. So far on a voluntary basis. The course includes drill training, hand-to-hand combatting and military science principles (learning the statute and everything related to training for military service).
Russia continues to spread military propaganda among the population of Crimea, promotes service in the Russian army and the values of “Russian world”.
So, in Simferopol, representatives of the TAVRIDA Cossack Assault Battalion had a meeting with schoolchildren. They were taking joint photos and telling stories about the “special military operation” and “heroic everyday life in the trenches”.
“The purpose of such meetings of children and war perpetuators combatting for the occupiers is to glorify the occupying forces and demonize Ukrainians. The website, where this event was reported, mentioned the key message that the militants were conveying to the children in all these meetings: “they were in the same trenches in which their ancestors had defended their homeland from the fascists during the Great Patriotic War. And they promised that the enemy would be defeated, fascism would be eliminated as it had been then done,” Ms.Iryna Siedova, CHRG analytic expert, emphasizes.
One more center for military and patriotic education of children – named DOBRYNIA – has been recently opened in Kerch. All collaborators titling themselves present-day city administration heads attended the opening ceremony.
“The center will become a place for basic military training, children will learn military science fundamentals, elementary military care. The practical classes will be given here, too”, the center website informs.
“YUNARMIYA” and “KRYMPATRIOTSENTR” remain active in militarizing the children. In March, a scheduled children’s competition was held for assembling Kalashnikov assault rifles, pistols, and shooting with an air rifle. The best participants were sent to the shooting competition.
In addition, a “YUNARMIYA March” was recently held in Saky, and a new group of Crimean children ceremoniously joined YUNARMIYA.
A children’s contest titled “My Compatriots – Heroes of Special Military Operation in Ukraine” is also being held in Crimea. Within the contest, the children shall write their own essays on the subject. The contest regulation has been published on the website of one of the Kerch schools. The document states that one of the main contest tasks is “to build up a positive moral assessment of the actions of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation during the SVO” (acronym for special military operation)”.
As reported by the CHRG, Crimean children have been affected by a large-scale aggressive Russian military propaganda since the beginning of the occupation. Some of these acts fall under the WAR CRIME definition and violate the rights of the child. The entire system of school education, starting from the curriculum, has promoted, in this or that way, the service in the Russian army and the “values of the Russian world”, that deny children the opportunity to express their Ukrainian identity or freely choose their own identity
