Since 2022, Russian authorities have forcibly sent about 50,000 children from the occupied territories of Ukraine to universities for so-called "patriotic education." They are taught military skills, instilled with an anti-Ukrainian worldview, and Ukrainian symbols, including the slogan "Glory to Ukraine," are depicted as a manifestation of "extremism." This is stated in the report of British intelligence, reports UNN.
The forced political education of Ukrainian youth by Russian authorities in the illegally occupied territories of Ukraine continues. The Russian Ministry of Defense's youth organization "Yunarmia" and the Kremlin's youth organization "Movement of the First" are among those organizations that teach Ukrainian children military skills and impose pro-Russian and anti-Ukrainian propaganda on them.
It is noted that Russian educational authorities seek to counter alleged "extremism" – a term that Russian authorities define broadly, including in a 2022 Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation manual titled "Preventing Conflicts, Manifestations of Extremism and Terrorism in a Multicultural Educational Environment," where the phrase "Glory to Ukraine" was asserted as an indicator of extremism.
Since 2022, Russian authorities have been implementing the so-called "University Sessions" program, under which children from the occupied regions of Ukraine are sent to Russian universities, where they receive "patriotic education." This aims to instill an anti-Ukrainian worldview in children, as well as to glorify Russian military exploits. Since 2022, about 50,000 Ukrainian children have attended these classes in 116 Russian universities.
Recall
In the temporarily occupied Luhansk region, over five hundred teenagers and young people are involved in Russian "student labor brigades."
