This post is an English translation of a paper which appeared in an online newspaper “Vlasti.net”
Russian original of the paper: http://vlasti.net/news/232912
DPR and LPR create battalions of children and adolescents
Most young of participants are less than 10 yours
In
the beginning of 2016 the Security Service of Ukraine informed that militants
of the terrorist group “LPR” (Luhansk People’s Republic) formed a “children
battalion” in the occupied city of Rovenky,
Luhansk region. This statement was made by Vitaly Malikov who is a chief of the
Anti-Terrorist Centre at the Security Service of Ukraine.
”The rights and freedoms of children are under the
threat, militants engage under-age children into the ranks of the illegal armed groups. In particular, we
know about a children sabotage unit named “The St. George battalion” which is
located in the city of Rovenky.
This battalion includes children which are between 12 and 16 years old,” – told
Malikov. This statement is not a fantasy but a reality. It is a true consequence of the militants’ work in the sphere of ”patriotic education”.
The children living on the occupied territories of Donbas learn to love the Motherland, to hate “Ukrainian fascists”. They are told how to kill them.
The last part
of the text of the next photo reads:
“The military sport club Russian Bears teached young patriots of Vuhlehirsk disassembling and
assembling the Kalashnikov machine gun and Makarov gun. They gave also a
lecture on performance characteristics of these weapons.”
The title
of the next photo: ”Children’s military unit of the city of Horlivka”. The last part of the text below it
reads: “The girls took part in different competitions together with more
experienced participants: throwing knives; shooting a traumatic weapon;
disassembling and assembling the Kalashnikov machine gun; rope crossing; shooting a
grenade launcher.”
The “patriotic education”
is being discussed during last year. “Donbass news” published several papers
about this.
It should be noted that as
much as four different ”ministries” on the territory of so called “DPR”
(Donetsk People’s Republic) are engaged in such activity. And the ”patriotic
education” on the occupied territories includes not only the glorification of such heroes as terrorists Zakharchenko, Givi or
Motorola and not only signing songs about the Motherland under DPR-colored
flags.
The ”military
patriotic clubs” which were created by following examples of similar Soviet
clubs play a big role in such an education. But old-fashion pioneers’ games
“Zarnitsa” where children searched alleged “enemy headquarters” in the forest
are now replaced by real learning of handling of light and artillery weapons. Russian
citizens are often instructors of such a teaching and separatists’ media openly
tell about this.
For example, the footage devoted
to training camps “Survival in
the forest area” of
military patriotic organizations shows how children wearing military weapons train to
work in pairs and triples, how to use the pattern of terrain for most
effectively attacking the enemy. And this enemy is not an illusory “potential
enemy” but a real Ukrainian. An instructor from Moscow
is leading the process, the chief of the patriotic education center
“Brotherhood of nations” Yurii Afanasjev who was spotted before in clashes in
Kodor clove, at present the territory of not recognized republic of Abkhazia.
The footage
shows both boys and girls running with machine guns under the guidance of
another instructor Arnold. The militants say in the video interview that they
do not teach to handle weapons but to work in a team and to train physical conditions. But the video demonstrates
the converse.
A similar “patriotic
education” with weapons in hands exists in Horlivka where girls called
themselves Amazons and learned to shoot a grenade launcher. They even showed
their skills in Moscow.
A military-patriotic club ”Russian
bear” is actively developing in the last times. According to the organization
itself, it existed even in “faschist times” (i.e. before the war) as an
underground activity. In DPR times it engaged in patriotic education. The chief
of it is Oleg Gluschenko, former TVE instructor in a Donetsk metallurgic lyceum. Besides
excursions and sport competitions this club provides a training in
shooting.
An agitational
footage of this club shows even more impressive picture.
It shows how adolescents
learn to handle a howitzer D-30 under guidance of men in the camouflaged
uniform. In particular, they learn how to impose the target on a goal.
How dangerous are
games with weapons?
In 2015, militants of the
illegal armed group ”Prizrak” “took care” of a daughter of one of them, Bogdana
who is 12 years old. According to the girl herself, she makes a meal to
militants, serves them tea and coffee, she learns bandaging the wounded. The girl
writes also poetries where she uses such words as “fascist”, “Nazi”, “junta”.
She learns also to shoot at “fascists”.
The girl speaks at the
camera that she does not want to live in Ukraine because “animals, not
people live there” and she shoots with pleasure to the side where there are
“fascists” according to her instructors.
One can assume that not
only Bogdana traumatized by the war and manipulated by adults experience such
feelings but also a part of those children who learn to shoot, to crawl with a gun and to love
their country through the hate of enemies. The reality of “children sabotage
units” seems to be not so fantastic.
An expert opinion
A chief of a voluntary
organization “Donbas SOS” Alexandre Gorbatko told as a commentary to the
“Donbas News” that the hostilities have traumatised children from both sides of
the demarcation line. Such traumas can be characterized by covertness. They can
be not manifested during long time and children are used not to speak of them
with adults.
In the territory under
control of Ukraine
such problems are taken into attention, although it is not enough resources to
cover large groups of people.
”I strongly cannot accept
how the children traumas are handled in the occupied territory. The exercises
with battle weapons cannot compensate them. Moreover, an image of enemy is
created in children’s heads, an image of a man to whom they turn barrels of
guns and cannons. This happens at the same time as they speak about
reconciliation and Minsk
agreements,” – Gorbatko tells.
Alexandre recalls that
there are military-patriotic games in Ukraine also. But they never
include handling of weapons, especially by under-aged school children.
