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ISW: Putin expands youth militarization program for long-term war in Ukraine

The Kremlin’s new youth militarization directives include establishing an online platform for military-patriotic education and expanding year-round training camps.
byMaria Tril
22/12/2024
2 minute read
Russian military instructors train local troops of Putin's children "army" to use combat weapons in occupied Crimea. The Russian Defense Ministry founded Yunarmia ("Youth Army") troops for children aged from 8 to 18 years old across Russia and Russia-occupied territories in 2016, two years after Russia's anschluss of the Ukrainian peninsula. Photo: social media
Russian military instructors train local troops of Putin’s children “army” to use combat weapons in occupied Crimea. The Russian Defense Ministry founded Yunarmia (“Youth Army”) troops for children aged from 8 to 18 years old across Russia and Russia-occupied territories in 2016, two years after Russia’s anschluss of the Ukrainian peninsula. Photo: social media
ISW: Putin expands youth militarization program for long-term war in Ukraine

The Institute for the Study of War (ISW) reported on 20 December that Russian President Vladimir Putin has issued new directives to expand military-patriotic education programs for youth across Russia and occupied Ukraine.

Russia’s military-patriotic education programs began to intensify after 2005 and significantly escalated following the annexation of Crimea in 2014. In occupied Ukraine, particularly since the onset of the war in 2022, these programs aim to instill loyalty to Russia among youth through curricula that glorify military service and promote Russian identity.

Putin approved four key instructions that focus on developing “military-sports camps” and expanding youth indoctrination initiatives.

According to the ISW, the Kremlin’s Roads of Victory program will be expanded, offering free excursions to sites of “military glory” to promote patriotic sentiment among young people.

The program aims to “foster patriotic feelings in modern children and youth,” the report states.

The analysis highlights how Russia has previously used Avangard military and sports training camps to “militarize and indoctrinate Ukrainian youth into Russian cultural and historical narratives.” These efforts appear to be intensifying as part of Russia’s long-term force generation strategy.

Putin’s declaration of 2025 as the Year of the Defender of the Fatherland signals a broader push to militarize Russian society, the ISW notes.

This initiative coincides with the expansion of youth organizations like Yunarmiya and Movement of the First, while the Time of Heroes program places Ukraine war veterans in government positions.

The ISW reports that these measures indicate the Kremlin’s intention to “encourage and elevate the prestige of military service among Russian youth and society” as it plans for “its long-term war effort in Ukraine and possible future armed conflicts with Western countries.”

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