russia uses Soviet-era practices to militarise children in the TOT
In the temporarily occupied Luhansk region, russians are introducing Soviet practices of «physical and military training» for young people to militarise children and spread propaganda.
The introduction of the «Ready for Labour and Defence» (GTO) programme has been announced. To promote it, new sports grounds are being installed, accompanied by propaganda events and publications.
In practice, russia is attempting to revive the Soviet GTO programme, which combined physical training with «ideologically correct» upbringing. Through ideologised sports, the education system and youth programmes, the kremlin is trying to foster loyalty to the occupiers among children and prepare them to participate in the war against Ukraine in the future.
At the same time, the construction of sports grounds is directly linked to the implementation of the «people’s programme» of putin’s «united russia» party. Thus, the occupation authorities are campaigning for putin’s party in preparation for the pseudo-elections in the temporarily occupied territories.
The militarisation of young people in the occupied territories is a systematic policy of the kremlin. Under the guise of sports, education and patriotic upbringing, russia is gradually attempting to turn children into a resource for the military system, while simultaneously imposing a russian identity and loyalty to the occupation authorities on them.
