Kids kneel to Putin's flag and give up lunch money for Russia's war

02 September 2023 , 13:53

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Kids kneel to Putin's flag and give up lunch money for Russia's war

Children were forced to kneel to the Russian flag as schools went into a patriotic frenzy over the war on the first day of the new academic year.

Some were taught to handle guns, others were dressed in military fatigues, and more were forced to listen to speeches by soldiers involved in Vladimir Putin’s illegal invasion of Ukraine. Pupils in Krasnoyarsk were ordered to their knees as they held a gigantic Russian tricolour flag in a patriotic song performance.

A pro-war local MP Ilya Zaitsev said this was “a cool format for everyone”. In Simferopol - capital of annexed Crimea - schoolchildren were told they should donate their lunch money to the military. A sign on a collection box said: “School pizza costs 100 roubles [82p/$1.04], the life of a soldier is priceless. We don't leave ours behind."

At school number 172 in Nizhny Novgorod, first year pupils were dressed in military fatigues and ordered to carry dummy Kalashnikov assault rifles, despite protests from parents. A priest joined in the pro-war propaganda session on day one of the new term.

A patriotic frenzy has been whipped up across Russia ahead of the start of the new school term (Social media/east2west news)

A fighter in Russia’s war “congratulated children on the beginning of the school year in a military way” at a school in Kaliningrad, where a student from Hawk military patriotic club performed in front of students. In Zelenogorsk, members of Putin’s 1.4 million-strong Yunarmia - or Young Army and likened to the Hitler Youth - taught schoolchildren to shoot air rifles, as well as to disassemble and assemble guns.‌

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Putin's Young Army Cadets performing in front of school kids in Zelenogorsk, Moscow (Social media/east2west news)

In Putin’s home city, St Petersburg, children were made to sing patriotic songs about a “strong and great” Russia. Hardline MP Vitaly Milonov, recently back from the war zone, addressed pupils in three schools.

‌Another loyalist pro-war MP Mikhail Romanov visited school number 691 and called teachers to form in children a “correct understanding” of Putin’s special military operation.

Hardline Duma MP Vitaly Milonov from the ruling United Russia party visited several schools in St Petersburg (Social media/east2west news)

St Petersburg governor Alexander Beglov likened the military accent to Soviet times when he was a child. “We put on gas masks, dismantled machine guns. I played a spy,” he told children at school number 99.

Another school - number 168 - was visited by a fighter from Espanola, a regiment comprising football hooligans. He decorated one schoolgirl called Diana for working with humanitarian aid. Russian national guards attended school celebrations in occupied Kherson region. The events come as Russian text books have been rewritten for the new school year to justify Putin’s aggression in Ukraine.

Will Stewart