“Special Military Operations” museums are mushrooming in Russian schools following Vladimir Putin's decree. Children should learn from an early age: Ukrainian “neo-Nazis” must be destroyed, and death in the fight against them is a “heroic act”.
The town of Lapitnangi is a few kilometers above the Arctic Circle. About 25,000 people live here in the remote Russian north. The area is known internationally as important prisoners of the Russian regime were sentenced here. Ukrainian director Oleg Sentsov was imprisoned for years in the “White Bear” penal colony on the outskirts of the city, while opposition leader Alexei Navalny was imprisoned in the “Polar Wolf” prison in the village of Sarb, 30 kilometers away. Unexplained death in mid-February. Nothing else happens here, the capital Moscow and other major cities are thousands of kilometers away. Ukraine, which was invaded by Russia two years ago, is also 3,000 kilometers from Lapidnanky.
Although the distance to the front line in Ukraine is roughly the same distance as that between Lisbon and Stockholm, war plays an important role in the daily lives of people living here. It is not known how many Lapidanangians are fighting in Vladimir Putin's army. But officials want more in the future. A full 17 cadet classes were established at school number eight, one says proudly Contribution of local television declared. Children receive basic military training from an early age, learning how to march properly and use machine guns. A second war museum was recently formally opened at the school – this time a museum for “Army Special Operations”. A permanent exhibition celebrating the “heroes” of other Russian wars, such as World War II, the Afghan War and the two Chechen wars, has existed for some time.
“The neo-Nazi is dead, but his clock keeps ticking”
Images on local television showed children in uniform demonstrating their skills in handling weapons at the ceremonial opening and leading visitors through the exhibition. It tells the stories of the townspeople who fell “heroically”. Russian soldiers' uniforms, cartridge cases and parts of a fired HIMARS missile are also on display. One of the “highlights” is the watch of a slain Ukrainian soldier – a local TV report commented on the exhibit as follows: “The neo-Nazi is dead, but his watch keeps ticking.”
Creating museums for “special activities” in schools is no longer an exception. Since the beginning of this academic year, they have been mushrooming all over Russia. Now there are hundreds of such exhibits in Russian schools. Radio Liberty More than 200 “museums of special operations” could be counted based on media reports alone. The total number could be much higher. Every report on the opening of such an institution mentions the “willingness of ordinary people” to talk about the “heroic deeds of yesterday's schoolboys”. But the initiative comes from much higher up. By the end of April 2023, Kremlin President Vladimir Putin ordered the establishment of such museums in schools and other educational institutions.
Since the start of the war of aggression, the pictures have… Small children pose with arms Or Forms a giant “Z” symbol, is no longer uncommon. A weekly campaign lesson on “conversations about important issues” is part of the school curriculum, as is the daily singing of the national anthem together. Veterans who fought in Ukraine are invited to the class as guests of honor. Also common are media reports of ex-convicts who served in the war and received pardons and are now welcomed as “heroes” in schools. With Putin's regulation, children's propaganda work is given more structure and officially falls under the responsibility of the Ministry of Culture.
Future “cannon fodder” must voluntarily go to war
It is worth noting that most reports of the opening of “museums of special operations” come from small, remote locations. During its research, Radio Liberty was able to find only two reports of such exhibitions in Moscow. The American-funded broadcaster quotes an author who explained this fact, saying that campaign museums are mainly opened in places where the largest number of soldiers are sent to the front and suffer the most casualties. These are usually poor areas far from large cities.
Ukrainian human rights activist Vera Yastrebova sees the need for future “cannon fodder” to voluntarily incite war as the reason for the mass creation of such museums. Such museums aim to incite “hatred against Ukraine, against human rights and democratic values,” the lawyer told Ukrainian TV channel Freedom. “Russia will quickly run out of resources – today they can encourage people to kill Ukrainians with more compensation and white Ladas. But soon it will not be money,” said Yastrebova, referring to reports of high compensation paid to families. Russia if their relatives are injured or killed in Ukraine. In the summer of 2022, a report about parents who used “coffin money” to buy their son a new car from Russian brand Lada left anti-war activists shaking their heads.
“Unify the population around the enemy image”
According to the human rights activist, the Kremlin regime is not only concerned with instilling hatred of Ukrainians in children. The whole regime was based on a policy of aggression, explained Yastrebova. “They are uniting people around an enemy image. Today it is Ukraine. But they will have no problem changing the exhibitions of these so-called museums to the Baltic countries, Poland and other countries. The enemy image.”
A psychologist quoted anonymously by Radio Liberty is convinced that the government is preparing people for a long war. “We see that war is shown as good and right. In the biographies of fallen soldiers, war is not a one-time event, but actually a way of life and a life recognized and supported by others, the right choice.” At the same time, children should be given a sense of living in a country surrounded by enemies and under constant threat. According to Radio Liberty, the psychologist explained that this justifies the war. The goal of these museums is to instill in children the idea that “participating in and dying in war is a proper way of life and a great way to be recognized and admired.”
Despite strong campaigning, not all Russian students take this path. For the cadets of School Number Eight in Lapitnangi, it is only a short step from the classroom to the battlefield after completing basic military training.
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