Kremlin Revives Soviet-Style Youth Indoctrination as It Eyes ‘Forever War’ With Ukraine and the West - The Moscow Times
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The Kremlin is working to systematically instill “patriotic” values in children and teenagers through a Soviet-style propaganda campaign as it looks toward preparing the next generation for a life shaped by conflict with Ukraine and the West. “We need warriors, gunmen, stormtroopers — those who, at the president’s first call, will rush to the military enlistment offices, not Verkhny Lars,” a Russian government official said, referring to the Russian-Georgian border crossing where tens of thousands of Russians fled the country during the fall 2022 “partial” mobilization for the war.“And there's nothing to be embarrassed about,” he said.

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The Kremlin is working to systematically instill “patriotic” values in children and teenagers through a Soviet-style propaganda campaign as it looks toward preparing the next generation for a life shaped by conflict with Ukraine and the West.

“We need warriors, gunmen, stormtroopers — those who, at the president’s first call, will rush to the military enlistment offices , not Verkhny Lars,” a Russian government official said, referring to the Russian-Georgian border crossing where tens of thousands of Russians fled the country during the fall 2022 “partial” mobilization for the war.

“And there’s nothing to be embarrassed about,” he said.

[…]

"Our Fatherland is in danger, threatened by the West and the United States. We no longer need hipsters, rappers, or lovers of Western culture — only Navalny supporters come from them,” he said.

Winning the hearts and minds of young people has been one of the Kremlin’s main domestic policy priorities since 2000, when Putin first became president. Putin’s early presidency saw the creation of state-funded youth movements championed by Kremlin ideologists such as admitted Western culture lover Vladislav Surkov and Vyacheslav Volodin.

[…]

The Kremlin is now transforming Rosmolodyozh, the Federal Agency for Youth Affairs, into a vast new ideological body tasked with systematizing and unifying all youth ideological education initiatives, from kindergarten to higher education.

According to Russian media reports, the agency will receive a significant funding boost in the coming year, along with new leadership.

[…]

  • teawrecks@sopuli.xyz
    10·
    3 months ago

    The term predates star wars, if that’s what you’re thinking. Star wars got the term from actual fascist regimes. According to Google translate, they probably used the term штурмовой отдел.

    • DragonTypeWyvern
      3·
      3 months ago

      I’m aware, and I’m also aware that Russian media almost certainly isn’t going to use the same term they would apply to Nazi troops when calling Ukraine Nazis is their entire casus belli and the Soviet contributions to WW2 are so important to Russian national identity.

      “They probably used” means you don’t know what they used.

      What term did they actually use?

      • teawrecks@sopuli.xyz
        1·
        3 months ago

        Ah, gotcha. Yeah, it’s always hard to know what really happened when dealing with this kinda stuff in the media. In this English version they say,

        a Russian government official said…The official, like others, spoke on condition of anonymity due to concerns for personal safety.

        Here’s the Russian version of the article (which uses штурмовики) where they instead say,

        a Russian government official explained to The Moscow Times.

        So it sounds like they’re not quoting a public statement from the Kremlin, but someone on the inside feeding information to this outlet. Allegedly. Could be that person’s wording, or could be the outlet’s “interpretation”.