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

Russian Rules

Russian Rules

From the shores of the White Sea to Moscow and the Northern Caucasus, Russian Rules is a high-speed thriller based on actual events, terrifying possibilities, and some really stupid decisions.
93 Untranslatable Russian Words

93 Untranslatable Russian Words

Every language has concepts, ideas, words and idioms that are nearly impossible to translate into another language. This book looks at nearly 100 such Russian words and offers paths to their understanding and translation by way of examples from literature and everyday life. Difficult to translate words and concepts are introduced with dictionary definitions, then elucidated with citations from literature, speech and prose, helping the student of Russian comprehend the word/concept in context.
The Moscow Eccentric

The Moscow Eccentric

Advance reviewers are calling this new translation "a coup" and "a remarkable achievement." This rediscovered gem of a novel by one of Russia's finest writers explores some of the thorniest issues of the early twentieth century.
Life Stories: Original Fiction By Russian Authors

Life Stories: Original Fiction By Russian Authors

The Life Stories collection is a nice introduction to contemporary Russian fiction: many of the 19 authors featured here have won major Russian literary prizes and/or become bestsellers. These are life-affirming stories of love, family, hope, rebirth, mystery and imagination, masterfully translated by some of the best Russian-English translators working today. The selections reassert the power of Russian literature to affect readers of all cultures in profound and lasting ways. Best of all, 100% of the profits from the sale of this book are going to benefit Russian hospice—not-for-profit care for fellow human beings who are nearing the end of their own life stories.
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.
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. 
White Magic

White Magic

The thirteen tales in this volume – all written by Russian émigrés, writers who fled their native country in the early twentieth century – contain a fair dose of magic and mysticism, of terror and the supernatural. There are Petersburg revenants, grief-stricken avengers, Lithuanian vampires, flying skeletons, murders and duels, and even a ghostly Edgar Allen Poe.
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.
Driving Down Russia's Spine

Driving Down Russia's Spine

The story of the epic Spine of Russia trip, intertwining fascinating subject profiles with digressions into historical and cultural themes relevant to understanding modern Russia. 

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