October 29, 2024

A Dismal Bid for Patriotism


A Dismal Bid for Patriotism
Children of Ekaterinovka, Primorsky Krai, can sleep easy knowing that if their fathers die in Ukraine, they will get free housing out of it.  VLADNES, CC BY-SA 3.0 Wikimedia Commons

The governor of Primorsky Krai, a region in the Far East that shares a border with North Korea, has an idea that he thinks will lead to more patriotism among the Russian youth. Unfortunately, to benefit from this idea, you have to lose your father to the war in Ukraine.

Governor Oleg Kozhemyako has proposed giving apartments to children of Russian soldiers killed in Ukraine to "prevent social orphanhood." According to Kozhemyako, "We need the child to understand, yes, my father performed a feat, and he died, but thanks to his feat I have an apartment, I live. This makes children patriotic."

Kozhemyako continued to add that the current social policy is biased toward the average orphan, and should be shifted to add support to those whose family members have been killed in Ukraine. The subjects of orphans and the war seem to be a continual preoccupation for Kozhemyako, as last year another of his brilliant ideas was to promise housing to orphans only if they volunteer to head to the front. 

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