November 21, 2024

Serve Your New Motherland


Serve Your New Motherland
Members of the Yunarmiya at the parade in Moscow in honor of the 74th anniversary of Victory in the Great Patriotic War. Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation, Wikimedia Commons

Russian authorities are using schools, summer camps, and "patriotic" events to introduce militaristic ideology to children in occupied Ukrainian territories, according to leaked documents obtained by Radio Liberty's Ukrainian service.

The documents reveal efforts by the Russian occupation administrations to integrate Ukrainian youth into the Yunarmiya (Youth Army), a militarized organization preparing them to fight as part of Russia's military forces.

One such individual is Ilya Zozulsky, a native of the Crimean village of Poltavka and a former member of the Yunarmiya. Russian media reported that Zozulsky now serves as an artilleryman in the Russian military and has been awarded the Zhukov Medal for participating in the Russian war in Ukraine

The Yunarmiya, established in Crimea in 2016, expanded to newly occupied territories following Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. In 2022, Russian patriotic education camps began operating in captured areas of Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, Luhansk, and Donetsk regions. Before this, a similar organization, the Voenno-patrioticheskoe dvizhenie “Molodaya-Gvardiya-Yunarmiya” (Military-Patriotic Movement "Young Guard-Youth Army") had operated in the occupied Luhansk and Donetsk regions, which have been under Russian-backed separatist control since 2014. In May 2019, 77 teenagers in Donetsk were inducted into this organization pledging allegiance to the self-proclaimed DNR (Donetsk People’s Republic).

In 2023, Yunarmiya centers were established in Donetsk and Luhansk schools, providing facilities for firearms and sports training. The Mariupol headquarters of the Yunarmiya held seven training shifts at the Iskrennost (Sincerity) children’s camp in the resort village of Melekino, on the shore of the Sea of Azov, during the summer of 2024. During these shifts, children were trained to use machine guns.

You Might Also Like

What's Your Score?
  • July 15, 2024

What's Your Score?

A Moscow university hopes to create a social score system like China's. 
Like this post? Get a weekly email digest + member-only deals

Some of Our Books

Tolstoy Bilingual

Tolstoy Bilingual

This compact, yet surprisingly broad look at the life and work of Tolstoy spans from one of his earliest stories to one of his last, looking at works that made him famous and others that made him notorious. 
Turgenev Bilingual

Turgenev Bilingual

A sampling of Ivan Turgenev's masterful short stories, plays, novellas and novels. Bilingual, with English and accented Russian texts running side by side on adjoining pages.
A Taste of Chekhov

A Taste of Chekhov

This compact volume is an introduction to the works of Chekhov the master storyteller, via nine stories spanning the last twenty years of his life.
Woe From Wit (bilingual)

Woe From Wit (bilingual)

One of the most famous works of Russian literature, the four-act comedy in verse Woe from Wit skewers staid, nineteenth century Russian society, and it positively teems with “winged phrases” that are essential colloquialisms for students of Russian and Russian culture.
The Samovar Murders

The Samovar Murders

The murder of a poet is always more than a murder. When a famous writer is brutally stabbed on the campus of Moscow’s Lumumba University, the son of a recently deposed African president confesses, and the case assumes political implications that no one wants any part of.
Survival Russian

Survival Russian

Survival Russian is an intensely practical guide to conversational, colloquial and culture-rich Russian. It uses humor, current events and thematically-driven essays to deepen readers’ understanding of Russian language and culture. This enlarged Second Edition of Survival Russian includes over 90 essays and illuminates over 2000 invaluable Russian phrases and words.
A Taste of Russia

A Taste of Russia

The definitive modern cookbook on Russian cuisine has been totally updated and redesigned in a 30th Anniversary Edition. Layering superbly researched recipes with informative essays on the dishes' rich historical and cultural context, A Taste of Russia includes over 200 recipes on everything from borshch to blini, from Salmon Coulibiac to Beef Stew with Rum, from Marinated Mushrooms to Walnut-honey Filled Pies. A Taste of Russia shows off the best that Russian cooking has to offer. Full of great quotes from Russian literature about Russian food and designed in a convenient wide format that stays open during use.
The Pet Hawk of the House of Abbas

The Pet Hawk of the House of Abbas

This exciting new trilogy by a Russian author – who has been compared to Orhan Pamuk and Umberto Eco – vividly recreates a lost world, yet its passions and characters are entirely relevant to the present day. Full of mystery, memorable characters, and non-stop adventure, The Pet Hawk of the House of Abbas is a must read for lovers of historical fiction and international thrillers.  
Moscow and Muscovites

Moscow and Muscovites

Vladimir Gilyarovsky's classic portrait of the Russian capital is one of Russians’ most beloved books. Yet it has never before been translated into English. Until now! It is a spectactular verbal pastiche: conversation, from gutter gibberish to the drawing room; oratory, from illiterates to aristocrats; prose, from boilerplate to Tolstoy; poetry, from earthy humor to Pushkin. 
Murder and the Muse

Murder and the Muse

KGB Chief Andropov has tapped Matyushkin to solve a brazen jewel heist from Picasso’s wife at the posh Metropole Hotel. But when the case bleeds over into murder, machinations, and international intrigue, not everyone is eager to see where the clues might lead.

About Us

Russian Life is a publication of a 30-year-young, award-winning publishing house that creates a bimonthly magazine, books, maps, and other products for Russophiles the world over.

Latest Posts

Our Contacts

Russian Life
73 Main Street, Suite 402
Montpelier VT 05602

802-223-4955