Russian President Vladimir Putin is mandating curriculum across Russia that gives teens weapons training and emphasizes religion, in a bid to foster increased patriotism.
Children as young as 11 are learning how to assemble and disassemble rifles, and to don biohazard suits in the event of a nuclear attack. The cold-war era instruction, comes after a decree by Putin to create a nationwide Russian students movement. The decree ostensibly hopes to “help form the characters” of adolescents, and instill love for Russian society.
Russia’s Defense Ministry furthered the decree with the creation of a “Young Army,” which trains children in military tactics and navigation techniques. The young army and student’s movement bear a striking resemblance to the Soviet Union’s “Young Pioneer’s” movement. The young pioneer’s program was the brainchild of Communist party leader Vladimir Lenin, who created summer camps to enamor youth with communism.
Putin’s revival of Soviet-era youth camps comes amid the highest period of tensions between Russia and the West, since the end of the cold war. Putin’s illegal annexation of Crimea, surreptitious invasion of Ukraine, and indiscriminate bombing campaign in Syria, have increased anti-Russian sentiment in the West. The European Union vowed to impose increased sanctions on Russia over its Syrian intervention Monday, going so far as to say that Russia is guilty of war crimes.
U.S. Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter accused Russia of “nuclear saber-rattling” Sept. 26, reminiscent of Cold War rhetoric. Putin then scrapped a U.S. nuclear disarmament deal Oct. 3, citing “unfriendly” behavior by the U.S. The agreement was seen as a step in the right direction by nuclear non-proliferation advocates.
“They see nuclear weapons as a normal extension of a conventional conflict,” Retired Army Gen. Philip Breedlove said of Russian strategic thinking to CBSNews. “I think to them the use of nuclear weapons is not unthinkable.”
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